Pokemon: Zenen Region
by voodooman985
Summary: This story takes place in the world of Pokemon, though it may not be as loving and comfortable as you remember it. In this version, our characters live and travel across the 8th region known as Zenen. However, their journey is not an easy one. After many battles and eye-opening experiences, lies are told, secrets are kept and blood is spilled as these two become more than friends.
1. Chapter 1

Pokemon: Zenen Region

"Pokemon, the strange and mysterious creatures that inhabit this world. Trying to count the number of different species is a futile effort, for these creatures come in an infinite number of shapes and sizes. Some soar far above the horizon, slicing through wind and weather. Others dive deep under water, swimming leagues under the crushing ocean. Some traverse the great plains and valleys, basking in the sun. While others dwell deep in the dark, uncharted caves and caverns beneath the Earth... but most live out their lives with Humans. Anywhere from a lifetime partner and friend to their next home cooked meal, Pokemon and Humans have always involved each other in their daily lives. Because of this, the two have learned to co-exist on this world and many people have become Pokemon Trainers; whose goal is to battle and capture other Pokemon in hopes of becoming a Pokemon Master. Starting as young as 15, these trainers travel across the Regions battling others and strengthening the bond between them and their Pokemon. With as many meetings and partings as there are Pokemon, many strange and fascinating stories have been made by these spirited travelers... This is how it's been for a very long time, and the story before you is just one of many you're sure to hear."

\- Professor Burmis

Chapter 1

The brisk morning breeze blew across the docks with a soft spray of the river accompanying its course. The distinct smell of salt from the river married the scent of sizzling fried fish from the food courts on the large stone path before the board walks. Slowly gliding in the sky were several small white Pokemon with thin, blue stripped wings.

From their point of view, you could see the whole town, full of life and movement. The buildings were quaint wooden structures that never exceeded two stories and were closely packed together. Some of the homes had stair cases on the side and others had large brick chimneys with misty smoke rising from their breach. Between the buildings were wide streets made of stone that had a large quantity of traffic with both people and Pokemon. Shopping, talking, running, and even a battle or two drew crowds out and on the main roads.

Beyond the town was lush fields of greenery and a few singled out trees as far as the eyes could see. Back at the docks were several small fishing boats bobbing up and down in the water and tied to wooden posts. In the river, a few small boats had fishermen in them with their large straw hats and fishing rods in the air. Every once in a while you could see a Magikarp or Goldeen jump out the water.

In between the loud ruckus of the towns' people and the patient floating of the fishermen, was a boy sitting on the edge of the wide stone street. Below his dangling feet were the wooden boards of the dock. He sat still, wearing a thin hoodie that outlined his angular body. The hoodie was primarily jet-black with a scarlet red hood covering his head and face and three scarlet rings designed around the center. Below the hoodie he wore a pair of black, semi-saggy sweatpants that had one pocket on each side and one strap pocket on the back of his right thigh. The pants had two white strings with knots at the end that laid between his legs and the rest of the pants went all the way down, overlapping his black tightly strapped boots. His arms were rested on his knees and his hands were a slightly tanned white with long and skinny fingers laced between each other.

In the background behind him he could hear the yelling of a man at a food court saying, "Come and get it fresh folks! Smoked, fried, smothered, and grilled, we've got it all!"

In front of the boy a good distance away was an old fisherman sitting in his boat looking intensely into the water. Suddenly, a splash was made next to the fisherman's boat and on the surface of the water an orange Pokemon with parallel black marks on its cheeks and a yellow collar around its neck appeared.

"Did you see 'em Buizel?" The fisherman asked the Pokemon with anticipation.

The Pokemon replied with a nod and "Bwee, bweee!" before flipping back underwater. For a brief moment you could see his split tail in the air. After the Pokemon submerged again, the fisherman scrambled amongst his things and grabbed his fishing pole. Then he carefully attached a strange, dark purple and blue bait with several small spikes covering its surface to the hook. After reeling the bait in closer, he lifted his pole in the air and whipped the line out a few yards away and waited, slowly turning the handle to reel it in closer.

Several minutes of patience later, a bird Pokemon came flying over the fisherman's boat and soared close to the water. It was small with grayish-black feathers and a white markings on its face and chest. The little Starly flew quickly over the wooden docks and flapped its wings landing next to the sitting boy on the edge. With a few hops back and forth, it looked up at the boy and chirped. The boy noticed the little Pokemon and looked over at it. His face was shaded from the hood, but his eyes were sharp and he had an intense glare when he looked. However the icy blue color of his eyes stood out from the rest.

Jet-black strands of hair fell in front of his eyes, as he watched the Starly tilt it's head almost 90 degrees to the right. After a few moments of this, there was a sudden break in the usual noises. On the far left side of the dock was the largest boat in the river. It had a whole section above the deck and cabins with railing all around it. On the side of the boat, there was its name written in bright green. A metal ramp extended from the deck to the board walk. After talking to one of the other sailors, a rugged looking man in a white and blue get-up walked from the boat down to the board walk.

Once he got up the steps to the stone street, he straightened his white cap and cupped his hands around is mouth, "All aboard! All aboard! The Aquamarine is leaving in 30 minutes! All passengers heading to the Kalos Region must be signed in before we take off! All aboard!"

Slowly, a few groups of people migrated over to the man and he pointed them to the boat where two other sailors were now standing at the bottom of the ramp. The boy looked up and saw the people walking down the board walk to the boat. There were men, women, and children, all wearing different clothes and carrying different things. Most of them had a rectangular piece of paper in their hands flapping calmly in the wind.

The boy looked back at the old fisherman for a second and reached up to the top of his hood. He pulled it down revealing his long, messy black hair. It reached down his neck and barely past his shoulders. Once the breeze picked back up, it all began to blow to one side. He looked back at the boat squinting his eyes and reached in his hoodie pocket. He pulled out his own white piece of paper that was folded in half, but on the top of it you could almost make out the word "Ticket".

With a deep sigh, his eyes softened as he looked down at the folded paper. His face looked conflicted as he reached up to his neck and pulled out a small necklace with purple and blue beads on it. He held it tight as he closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. With the exhale, he stood up from his spot on the edge and sunk his hands in his hoodie pockets. The little Starly was startled and quickly fluttered away from the boy's movements. Looking down at the ground the boy began to make his way toward the yelling sailor.

One year earlier…

"No seriously, I think we're lost." Her calm voice pitched up in sudden realization.

She walked holding a wrinkled map wide open in front of her. The map had a diagram of a forest with several paths and a legend on the side. Several creases forming a grid stretched across the paper. The girl holding the map was peculiar at best.

From a distance, one might mistake her for tall dark tree. But with a closer look, one would realize that the mass of darkness in front of them was actually a willowy, pale skin, teenage girl. Her body, skinny and flat-chested, had little figure and her ebony hair was cut off just at the neck with three separate crops of bangs, two on the side shaping out her face, and one in the middle, shadowing above her lilac eyes. Light freckles were dabbed above her button nose, and across her flushed cheeks. She was clad in all black clothing: laced-up combat boots, thigh-high socks, fingerless gloves, a loose tank top that exposed a bit of her bra, a high-waist pair of jean shorts that had fake-rips in the center, and a plaid jacket tied around her midriff. She also carried a black book-bag with several pockets and zippers, plus a plastic buckle that reached across her chest from each shoulder strap.

Behind the girl was three ghost-type Pokemon, two of which were hovering over each of her shoulders. The one on the left somewhat resembled of jellyfish. It had a round head with a crown shaped tuffet, along with five wavy, tentacle-like appendages. Its primarily pink body was complete with a pair of blue, oval shaped eyes with red sclera and a curled eyelash on each eye. The Pokemon had a frilled collar around its neck and it appeared to be smiling.

The ghost Pokemon on the right had a clear, spherical head containing a bluish purple flame and yellow, oval shaped eyes. On top of its head was a black covering, which resembled a lampshade and with that, a pointed spike was on top. Underneath its round head was a small, black body with another pointed spike at the bottom. Extending from its body were two long, wavy arms with no fingers.

Instead of hovering, the third Pokemon walked behind the girl on its two short, stubby feet. Its body was a dark-brown pumpkin with two triangular eyes and a half-circle mouth carved into it. Above the pumpkin body was the Pokemon's tall, slender and orange colored head. Its face only contained two yellow eyes and a small mouth, though the mouth had a pair of sharp fangs sticking out of it. Completed by its peach-colored hair, which down the sides developed limbs, the hair contained bangs which covered one eye. The top of its hair was crescent shaped, with peach-colored hair on the outside and black on the inside.

The four were traveling down a narrow dirt path in the middle of a heavy forest. The trees were large and the branches extended far from the trunk. Above them was a canopy of leaves with little beams of sunlight bursting through the greenery. Several overgrown bushes and plants either narrowed or blocked the path constantly making it difficult to traverse. Full of vibrant colors and curious wildlife, even the abundance of sounds that surrounded the girl and her Pokemon, the forest was enough to make one want to close their eyes and rest a while.

"Oh wait, maybe not."

The girl stopped and turned the map vertically as if to get a better angle, then looked up at a neighboring path she could barely make out between the trees.

"Frillish, go see if that path curves to the left up ahead."

Understanding her words, the pink floating Pokemon levitated over to the other path while making a soft humming sound. Its tentacles bounced in the air as it examined the path and noticed the distinct left curve it made. Signaling the girl to come, she quickly folded up the map into a small square and stuffed it in her pocket.

With a smile on her face she shouted, "Alright, let's go!" to her companions and ran over to the other path without a moment's delay.

Not too far from the traveling girl and her Pokemon was a small lake. Near the edge of the lake, a few yards into the trees, was a clearing where a makeshift camp was set up. In the camp was a pile of glowing embers and black sticks burning inside a ring of smooth grey rocks. Also, in the gap between two rather wide tree trunks was a brown, tightly secured rope. The rope was wrapped several times around one trunk, then stretched out to the other trunk and tied to it. Hanging on this rope was a worn down, gray book bag with several dark stains on it and only one strap remaining. It had a large light brown flap on the top with two small black buckles keeping it down, along with two velcro pockets on each side. Next to the bag was a thin black and red hoodie. It dangled on the rope with its scarlet ring design and hood all wrinkled up.

Across from the hanging items were a Pokemon and a teenage boy, both sound asleep. The Pokemon was canine in structure, mainly black fur with a long orange snout and orange underbelly. At the tip of its snout was a small black nose. Around its neck was a white, bone-like band with a small skull-shaped pendant on its throat. Two more bone-like bands wrapped around each of its ankles, as well as three rib-like ridges on its back. On top its head was a pair of thick, curved gray horns. The Pokemon lay curled in the grass with its long, skinny, triangle tipped tail by its face. Its breathing was calm and soft as its body expanded and shrank.

Lying next to it was the sleeping boy; his breaths were broken up and shaky. He laid on his back with a grey towel, which seemed to be kept in good condition, between him and the grass. His hair was long and dark as ink; tied in a loose-short ponytail, several of the wild strands reached down his neck and in front of his eyes. His head was cocked to the left and his face was long like his hair, completed by a sharp-curved chin and pointy nose.

The boy's upper body was slightly exposed by the dark blue tank top he wore that seemed to fit him perfectly. From what one could see, one would assume his body was in prime physical condition. However, his muscle-toned arms and chest were still rather slim and his angular body was very lean, rather than buff. Below his tank top was a pair of black, semi-saggy sweatpants that had a pocket on each side of them, plus one on the back. Wrapped through the loops of the pants was a black belt that had an equally black sheath strapped horizontally to it with a blade inside. The blades handle was dark-green with three metal pins down the center and was pointed toward his front. By his feet were two un-strapped and unlaced, tall black boots sitting upright.

The boy rolled to his left revealing the back of his belt. There was six round clips, three on his back left, and three on his back right. On his back right was two, small round balls with the top half colored red and the bottom half white, clipped to the belt. In the center of each ball was a small white button with a black outline reaching around the center of the ball.

All of a sudden, on the edge of the clearing, near the campfire, there was shuffling inside a patch of thick bushes. The bushes had four light green flowers with yellow stems on the inside, sticking out of it. The shuffling continued, shaking the whole bush until without warning, a small purple Pokemon with large buck teeth jumped out from the bush. Following that, another one hopped out behind the first. They both had a long, slightly curled tails and skinny whiskers; though the second one's whiskers appeared shorter.

They scurried across the camp, toward the hanging bag. With its nose steadily twitching, the first Rattata climbed up the tree and examined the bag carefully, while the other crept up to the sleeping creatures and studied them. Taking interest in the Pokemon, it slowly crawled up to its back and sniffed it for a brief moment. Unexpectedly, the large black Pokemon let out a quick sneeze causing its face to tense up, and the Rattata to jump back several feet.

Drowsily, the Pokemon raised its head and opened its mouth, letting out a whiny yawn. The inside of its mouth was black with a long pink tongue and razor sharp teeth. Breathing at a regular speed now, the large canine glanced at the boy and began to sniff. Noticing a scent, the Pokemon's head jolted around, seeing the pair of rodents trembling in fear. Slowly, the intimidating white teeth where exposed as its soft growl grew more fierce.

Ditching the bag, the two Rattatas bolted back into the bushes as the black Pokemon shot up from its spot and began barking ferociously. Immediately after, the teenage boy jumped up and instinctively pulled the knife out with his left hand, pointing it toward the barking Pokemon. The knife had two sides too it, one was an intensely sharp edge while the other had several jagged ridges. Anxiously checking his surroundings and not spotting anything, he calmed himself down with a deep breath and sheathed his blade. After seeing the growling Pokemon in a 'ready to strike' stance, he called out to it.

"Houndoom! What the hell's wrong with you?"

The growling ceased, and the tensed up Houndoom turned to the boy and started panting adorably.

"Oh, don't you make that face at me. You woke me up an hour early." He said with a deep, tranquil voice.

The boy stood up and stretched out his arms with a long groan. Scratching his messy hair, the Houndoom tramped over to the boy and looked up at him. The Pokemon stood even with his waist but the horns went up to his stomach. The boy reached down and rubbed the fur between his horns on his head.

"Well good morning to you too."

With a yawn, he walked over to the hanging bag and unbuckled the top flap. After flipping it open, the boy sunk his hand deep into the bag and rummaged through the things inside.

"You guys are gonna' love what I found yesterday." The boy said as he pulled out a rather full looking, brown paper bag.

He turned around and reached behind his waist with his right hand. With a short clicking sound, he un-clipped one of the small Pokeballs from his belt and pressed the button in the center. The ball then expanded in the boys hand to about the size of a softball. After filling the boy's hand, he tossed the ball into to the air. When the Pokeball opened, a white beam of light shot out toward the ground. Once it hit the ground, the light instantly began to take form until it was in the shape of a small Riolu. This small, blue, canine Pokémon stood up on the toes of its black, hind legs. Its upper torso was also black, but the rest of it, including the tail and arms were blue. On the back of each of its forepaws was an oval-shaped bump. It also had a black 'mask' around its dark red eyes and ears. As it stood there composed, it reached upward and tugged at a thin green scarf it wore around its neck.

After the ball closed back up in midair, it fell down and was caught by the boy again, shrunk down to its original size, and re-clipped to the back of his belt.

"Check it out guys. I found these on our way back yesterday." The boy revealed as he poured out a small river of round, pink berries out of the bag and onto the grass.

"Magost berries." He said as the two Pokemon stared at the pile with curiosity.

The Riolu quickly launched itself toward the fruits and picked one up, sinking its teeth into its fat, juicy body. The Houndoom walked up to the pile and sniffed the berries very closely, then turned his head in disgust.

"Oh come on Doom, these aren't that bad." The boy said as he dropped down in a sitting position and picked up one of the berries. The size of the berry was almost enough to fill his hand; he brought it up to his mouth and took a large bite out of it. Dark pink juice dripped heavily out of the fruit and down his chin as he chewed.

"See." He said with his mouth full, "Look even Riolu loves i-"

He stopped and began to choke after noticing the 8 green, juice stained stems laying in a pile next to the small blue Pokemon as he sunk his teeth into its ninth berry. After coughing up half a lung, the boy got his composer and opened his mouth.

"Damn Riolu, save some for the rest of us."

After watching the two chow down on the food, the Houndoom stared at the few berries that were left with conflicted feelings.

"If you didn't want this you should have eaten whatever it was you were barking at." The boy said with a smirk grin on his face.

The Houndoom growled in defeat and picked up one of the berries with his mouth. Then it turned around and slowly walked to the other side of the clearing; plopping down with its back facing the others while it nibbled on the pink fruit. The boy grinned slightly again as he pushed the hair out his eyes and bit into his food again.

After about ten minutes of casually chowing down on fruit, the Riolu gave a loud exhale and laid back with a pleased face; using the scarf to wipe his mouth.

"Alright today's the day." The boy declared as he stood up and patted the dirt off the back of his pants.

Picking up the brown bag and shoving it back in his book bag, the boy walked over to the grey towel and began to roll it up.

"Today, we're gonna' get him and finally be able get out of here."

The Houndoom turned its head to see what the boy was doing, while the Riolu's ears perked up in interest to what he was saying. He rolled it up into a cylinder and laid it down under the bag. He grabbed the hoodie off the rope and flipped it over his shoulder.

"But first... I gotta' take a leak." He said as he walked into the trees away from the clearing.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Running slower than before, the girl stopped sharp in the middle of the dirt path. In front of her were three different paths to choose from.

"Wait... this isn't supposed to be here." She exclaimed as two floating Pokemon hovered behind her and the third Pokemon stumbled its way forward, gasping for air.

She turned around and noticed her Pokemon holding itself up with its peach hair-limbs.

"Oh, Gourgeist. You look like you're having a small heart attack." She said playfully as she squatted down in front of it and unbuckled her strap.

She slid the book bag off her shoulders and brought it around in front of her. After unzipping one of the side compartments, she reached inside and pulled out a small Pokeball and enlarged it.

"Take a break for a while."

Suddenly, a red beam of light extended from the center of the Pokeball toward the Gourgeist, dematerializing it into red light and sucking it into the ball.

Placing the ball back in the bag, she stood up and rubbed her forehead with the back of her arm.

"Huh, do you guys want a break too?"

As if expecting her to say that, the pink Frillish gave a low pitch hum and slowly hovered closer to the ground in exhaustion.

"Okay, no problem. How about you Lampent?"

The Lampent bucked up with energy and bent its arm in salute, signifying that it was fine. After grabbing another Pokeball and returning Frillish, the sweating, red-faced girl zipped her book bag up, buckled it back on, and examined the problem in front of her.

"Now what do we have here?" She said to herself as she placed her hand over the jacket tied around her waist and leaned to one side.

With a deep breath, she reached down in her pocket and said, "Why is this forest giving me such a hard time?"

She pulled out the folded map and began to open it up. Just as she went to hold it up in front of her, there was a loud twig snap and shuffling too her left. Both her and Lampent turned in reaction, but before they could do anything, a lightning-fast figure darted out from the trees, pushing the girl to the ground. She yelped in shock and looked up to see a well camouflaged, primarily green Pokemon with a bush-like crest on its head, full of leaves. Its ears were broad with light green insides, and it had oval eyes and a black nose.

She watched as it jumped from the ground to one of the extended tree branches.

"A Simisage?" She said as it turned around and stared at her with a mischievous grin.

It had furry, white eyebrows and shoulder tufts, plus a cream-colored face, chest, hands and feet. Its hands had five fingers, and its feet had three toes. Thorny and tipped with leaves, the Pokemon's tail wrapped around the branch it stood on. As she watched the Simisage, she noticed it was holding a large piece of paper crumbled up in its hand.

"Wha- Oh, you little shit."

Realizing the crumbled paper was her much needed map, she stood back up and pointed at the laughing Pokemon.

"You'd better give me that map back before I come up there and kick your little green ass."

Amused by her words, the Simisage taunted the girl by turning around and wagging its tail.

"Lampent, Ember!"

Without a moments delay, the floating Lampent stretched its arms out and opened its mouth. Launching out from it was a wave of small yellow and red flames shooting straight for the Simisage. Quickly reacting, the Pokemon jumped off the branch just before being burnt and landed on the dirt path. Racing away from the girl, she sprinted after it with her Pokemon, leaving behind the blazing tree branches.

"You aren't getting away that easy! Will-O-Wisp!"

After hearing her command, Lampent opened its mouth again and out came a sinister, bluish-white flame that landed next to the running Simisage. Suddenly, the green Pokemon jumped to the side onto a tree and somersaulted backwards toward the girl and her Pokemon. As he flew, its tail began to glow a bright whitish-grey color and he went to slam the two with it.

"Watch out!" The girl yelled as she and Lampent both jumped out of the way. The Simisage's tail slammed down on the dirt causing a vast amount of smoke to cover the area.

Coughing on the dust, the girl stood back up and tried find where the Pokemon went. As the dust cleared, it was her and Lampent standing alone on the path with no Simisage to be seen. She straightened up her tank top, knocking the dirt off it, and looked around for the thief. Then, behind her was a familiar laugh as she turned around to see the Pokemon hanging with one arm holding the branch and the other holding the map out in front of it.

"Oh you're real funny, let'me tell you." She said in a calm, sarcastic voice, "Will-O-Wisp!"

Again, a long beam of blueish-white flame shot out of Lampent's mouth and landed on the branch where the Simisage was. After dodging, the Pokemon again began racing down the dirt road in the opposite direction.

"Get him Lampent!" She called as they both darted after it.

Lampent began to catch up to the Simisage causing it to run on all fours. Taking a sharp turn onto a different path, the Simisage stopped, slightly drifting back, and charged at Lampent.

Unprepared, Lampent was hit by a frenzy of claw attacks as soon as it cut the corner, and the girl yelled, "Flame Burst!"

All of a sudden, a powerful wave of fire shot out from Lampent in every direction. The flames didn't extend very far, but they were enough to knock the unsuspecting Simisage several yards back with a painful screech. After having absorbed a great deal of damage, the burnt up Simisage pushed itself back up and started to run.

Standing back as she watched the helpless Pokemon stumble away and fall on the ground a few times, her face softened up from its tenseness; she took a few deep breathes.

"Lampent, use Hex." She said and the Pokemon hovered forward, lifting its arms and squinting its eyes.

Out of the blue, the escaping Simisage began screeching in pain and its body tensed up as if it was being electrocuted. Once the Pokemon ceased its screaming, it slowly fell to the ground and fainted. After that, the girl walked up to the beat up Pokemon and took off her backpack. Kneeling down, she unzipped her main compartment and pulled out an orange metal device with a small red and white Pokeball icon imprinted on it. She pointed it at the Simisages wounds and out of a small grey knob in the front, came a spray of misty liquid.

She sprayed the wheezing Pokemon head to toe with the device and said, "Shouldn't have played with fire, dummy." Her voice was soft and calm, "Sorry about this."

She placed the device back in her bag and examined the Pokemon. It was lying on its stomach and had one of its hands under it. She rolled it over and saw that in that hand was her much needed map. Half of it was burnt with a black, crispy edge remaining and the other half was shredded up beyond repair.

A snort came out the girl's nose and she said, "Looks like you win. You can keep it."

She zipped her book bag up and buckled it back on her shoulders. Standing and examining her surrounding she placed her hand on her hip again and leaned to one side.

"Now, which way did we come from again?"

Back by the camp, the boy was sitting on the ground, wearing his black and red hoodie and putting on a pair of black socks.

"If we have any manner of luck at all, he should have left the lake in search of food by now. So that's where we'll start." As he said that, the Houndoom and Riolu were busy grabbing the grey rocks used to contain the fire and scattering them around in the woods

The boy grabbed his boots and flipped the left one over, causing something to drop out of it.

"Alright, still there." He whispered to himself as he quickly flipped the blade on the knife open, exposing its razor edge, then flipping it back closed.

He strapped on the boot and tied it tight, then shoved the closed blade deep in the shoe and began strapping the other one on. Once they were both on, he over-lapped them with his pants, covering them, and stood up.

"You guys ready?" He asked, and the two Pokemon nodded in unison.

He grabbed his book bag with the towel secured under the bag's top flap and tightly tied in a cylinder with the rope. With only the left strap remaining, he slid it over his left shoulder and held the strap while his right hand was snug in his hoodie pocket. He gave the clearing one more glance and turned around.

"Alright, let's go." He said as the three began walking into the woods.

Away from their usual abundance of sunlight, in the woods the trees were close and the leaves blocked most of the sun's rays from reaching the ground. On ground level, their way was constantly blocked by large bushes, brier patches, and other small trees. Even with these obstacles in play, the three cautiously made their way through the thickets, toward their destination. The Riolu jumped up to a low tree branch, then jumped to another, using agility to easily traverse the forest. Soon the amount of trees lessened and a few yards in front of them was what seemed like an opening.

"Riolu, go look around and see if he's anywhere nearby." The boy whispered loudly as the Pokemon jumped off its branch to another in the opposite direction.

"C'mon Doom." He said as the two crouched among the shrubbery and crept up to the opening.

Once at the edge of the forest, he stopped and examined his surroundings. The water flowed quietly and was clear enough to see several feet down. The lake itself wasn't enormous but one wouldn't be able to see the other side in good detail. After watching for almost a minute, the boy and Houndoom slowly walked out, onto the ring of mud and grass between it and the lake. Kneeling down at the edge where the water was pushed against the dirt, he ran his fingers over the small waves, dipping his hand in.

The boy's icy blue eyes were focused on the lake; watching it relentlessly as if something was going to jump out at any moment. Houndoom also watched, but his eyes were on the tree line, waiting for any sudden speck of movement, but all there was were swaying trees in the wind and green leaves floating down into the water.

"It's not here." He said as he pulled his hand out and shook the water off, "Find him."

Suddenly, Houndoom dropped its nose to the ground and began sniffing vigorously as they walked around the edge of the lake. Taking the lead, Houndoom sniffed almost halfway around as the boy peeked between the trees. Taking slow, light steps, he suddenly heard a loud squishing sound beneath his foot. He looks down to see that he had just sunk his boot into some thick mud.

"Oh fuck." He mouthed as he lifted his shoe and stomped the mud off in the grass. As he did, he noticed a grouping of red flowers a few feet away. The flowers had large, curvy petals and tall stems extending several feet out of the ground. Taking interest, he walked up to them and knelt down, then used his hand to push them out of the way. Under the flowers, at the base of their stems, were several solid brown nuts about the size of an egg.

"Hmm." He hummed as he stared.

Releasing the flowers, he stood back up, gripped his bag strap, and jogged back up to Houndoom. The black Pokemon had stopped and was sniffing intensely around what appeared to be slid marks in the mud leading into the forest.

The boy stopped and squatted down, scratching the Pokemon behind its neck.

"Good job." He whispered.

Then, out of the blue, a familiar small, blue Pokemon jumped out from the shady forest from behind, startling them both. It was Riolu. He was slightly panting while pointing into the forest.

"You find it?" The boy asked with anticipation spelled across on his face.

After the Pokemon nodded, he patted Houndoom on the back and all three of them darted into the forest. Leading the charge was Houndoom as it swiftly sprinted ahead, leaping over stumps and bushes in the way. Riolu, again, was using the tree branches, elegantly springing from branch to branch. Following them was the boy, running carefully between obstacles, attempting to keep up with his Pokemon best he could. As they were crashing through, all manner of Pokemon, peacefully going about their day, were startled. Several small Nincada scrambled back into their holes under the tree trunks and a few Wurmple nearly fell off the branches they were resting on when they saw a Houndoom and a boy run by.

Gradually, Houndoom began to slow down and Riolu jumped off a branch and landed next to him. They both stopped at a dirt path that extended as far as they could see in both directions. The boy caught up to them and walked up quietly, scanning his surroundings.

"Riolu, can you see it?" He whispered.

At that moment, the small, blue Pokemon closed its eyes and placed its paw on its chest. Suddenly, both its ears rose up horizontally and began shaking extremely fast; producing a steady humming sound. Its face tensed up as if it was having a hard time and it gripped its scarf tightly. After a few moments, the Pokemon's eyes shot open and it quickly turned its head to the right and pointed down the path.

Suddenly, several yards down the path, a Pokemon wandered out into the open. The Pokemon was indigo-blue and had a brown shell with a pale yellow underside encasing its body. The shell itself had multiple scars on both the back and front and a thick, white rim separating the upper and lower halves of the shell. It walked on two feet, which both had three pointed toes, and its blueish-white fur covered both its long ears and tail. Its hands had three sharp, clawed fingers and one was holding a small, skinny branch with several purple berries hanging off of it.

The shelled Pokemon stopped in the middle of the path and turned its head to see a boy, Houndoom, and Riolu staring at it threateningly. Its face had a dark blue streak on each cheek, and two sharp teeth protruding from its upper jaw. Its sharp, brown eyes locked with the boy's and they stared at each other for nearly a minute without making a move. All that was heard was the buzz of bug-type Pokemon in the forest and the cawing of birds in the distance.

Once a minute passed, the boy opened his mouth, "Boo."

The blue Pokemon dropped its branch and made a break for it, straight into the trees.

"Cut him off!"

Houndoom dashed into the forest and the boy and Riolu ran towards it from behind. As it ran, the Pokemon was easily able to navigate through the forest as if it had the whole thing memorized. Dropping to all fours, the shelled Pokemon glanced back, not seeing the boy or the other Pokemon. As soon as it looked back in front it was greeted by a pair of horns on the head of a large black Pokemon. Houndoom had rammed it head-on knocking it back several feet and landing on the back of its shell. Quickly flipping itself over with its tail, the Pokemon got back on its feet and stood up to see it was surrounded. A growling Houndoom in front and a battle-ready Riolu behind, the Pokemon looked extremely tense as it searched for a way out.

When the boy showed up and saw the situation, a small grin grew on his face as he yelled, "Houndoom, Thunder Fang"

Houndoom barked as small, yellow bolts of electricity began sparking around his fangs in its mouth. After that, it charged the Pokemon, barking fiercely as it went to bite. Suddenly, the turtle-like Pokemon jumped at Houndoom and began spinning wildly as it retracted into its shell. When the two collided, Houndoom was whacked in the face and knocked away, but it didn't stop there. Once the attack was done, the Pokemon came back out of its spinning shell and landed on its feet, kicking dust back, then opening its mouth and pulsing a blast of water straight at Riolu and the boy.

"Dodge it Riol- Oh shit!"

The boy and Riolu jumped out of the way of the attack then the boy yelled again, "Force Palm!"

Riolu swiftly ran towards the Pokemon and it did the same. Once they were almost in arms reach of each other, the Pokemon attempted to retract into its shell and spin itself again, but Riolu dropped down to its knees and bent backwards, sliding under it as it spun passed him. Once the Pokemon was out of its shell, Riolu thrust its paw into its back, launching a shock wave of force, causing it to screech violently. Immediately after, the Pokemon turned around and sunk its teeth deep into Riolu's shoulder.

Flinching at the pain, the boy yelled out another command, "Use Counter!"

Suddenly, Riolu used its free arm to launch a straight-forward punch into the Pokemon's shell, but the Pokemon only chomped down harder, refusing to let up.

"Again!"

Again Riolu pounded the Pokemon's shell, shaking its body, but it refused to let go. Stumbling back behind the Pokemon, Houndoom shook its head and saw the two Pokemon locked in combat.

A vengeful look in its eye and a menacing growl, the boy saw his Pokemon back in action and called out, "Houndoom, Thunder Fang!"

Houndoom quickly charged the Pokemon, again with electrified fangs. He chomped down on the unsuspecting Pokemon causing the whole thing to shoot up with electricity. Yellow bolts flying everywhere, the Pokemon loosened its grip on Riolu and he took the opportunity to launch another powerful thrust on the Pokemon's lower shell. Once the Pokemon let go, Riolu jumped several feet back and gripped its left shoulder, kneeling down in pain; several small bolts of electricity could be seen sparking off its body. Once Riolu was free, Houndoom threw the Pokemon on the ground aggressively and it laid there quietly. Houndoom slowly crept up to the Pokemon, fangs bared, ready to bite into it again. The boy dropped his bag next to a tree and ran up to get a better view.

"Wait Houndoom get back!" As the boy yelled that, the laying Pokemon turned its head with its mouth open and looked straight into Houndooms eyes.

A huge volume of water was launched out its mouth under great pressure sending Houndoom flying several feet into the air and landing on its side. Luckily, after hearing the boy's words, Houdoom had enough time to jump back slightly so he didn't receive the full blast. After a few seconds, both Houndoom and the Pokemon gathered their remaining strength and slowly stood up.

The boy looked at his two Pokemon and they looked at him, "You guys ok?", he asked. Houndoom shook the water off his body and barked while Riolu stood up and grunted.

The boy nodded and looked at the steady blue Pokemon.

"Ready to give up yet?"

The Pokemon glanced at the boy and turned around dashing into the opposite direction.

"And that's why I like you."

Scratching her dark hair, the girl wondered down the path with Lampent humming in front of her.

"I think we might die in this forest Lampent." She said as the Pokemon just continued humming along as if she didn't.

"Hey Lampent. Laampeent. Are you ignoring me?"

The Pokemon continued to float along in a world of its own.

"Fine, if you wanna' die in silence, by all means be my gues-"

Suddenly, she was cut off by a long, eerie howl that echoed through the forest and seemed to silence everything. The howl itself was loud and sounded close to the girl as she searched around peeking through the trees trying to spot something.

"Uhh, that doesn't sound good and it was really close. You think we shou-" She looked at her Pokemon and it was floating low to the ground and shivering with fear.

"Hey, hey, hey, don't worry. It's alright, I'm sure that was nothing to worry about. It was only one howl, when Pokemon who howl like that are in packs they always howl together. C'mon up here."

She lifted the shivering Pokemon up in her arms and the Pokemon snuggled up on her chest. She continued to walk only this time her eyes were fixated in the direction she heard the howl. As time went on, Lampent slowly loosened up and eventually it quit shivering so hard and looked up at the girl.

"You feelin' better?" She asked.

The Pokemon gave her a nod and hummed its way back into the air.

"Alright, good."

The two smiled at each other then heard loud rustling to their right. They both quickly turned to see what it was but a large thicket was in the way. The girl looked up ahead and saw where she thought the thicket ended.

"Come'on" She whispered and she quietly jogged up to the opening.

Once they made it there she leaned over and peaked. What she saw was a freaked out, blue Pokemon with a brown shell and blueish-white fur.

"Oh, it's just a Wartortle." She said, "It must have been freaked out by the howl too."

She glanced at it one more time then looked at her Pokemon.

"You know, since we are lost in this forest. Why not take the time to strengthen your resistance to water-type moves. You don't get enough practice and what happens when you have to fight one in the future."

The Lampent gave another salute and they both looked at the Pokemon as it frantically searched in all directions.

"Alright, ready, set, go!"

The two of them jumped out and ran up to the Pokemon.

"Lampent, Fire spin!"

The hovering Pokemon quickly covered itself in red-hot flames and charged the Wartortle. Suddenly, a large black Houndoom leapt out of the bushes and charged the Pokemon. Its teeth were cloaked with searing hot flames dripping out its mouth. Then, a smaller Pokemon came rushing in at speeds that made it almost invisible, heading straight for the Wartortle.

Unsure of what was going on, the girl ran for her Pokemon and screamed, "Wait!"

Then they all crashed into one another causing a massive explosion of power and a large dust bowl that covered the area. Everyone was knocked back and lying on the ground with zero visibility of their surroundings. As it began to slightly clear up, a loud crashing sound was heard over a crackling fire.

Dizzy and disoriented, the girl laid on her side for what felt like minutes, looking at a small figure in front of her. In the distance she could hear a voice, but it was muffled and too hard to understand. Slowly, she attempted to push herself up but the wind was knocked out of her and she felt lightheaded. Her eyes were heavy, but she could manage to keep them open for a few seconds at a time, only to have dust fly in her eyes.

Then, there was the voice again. It sounded distant and quiet, but at the same time she could feel the person close by. She opened her eyes once more, and this time she could see more clearly. She saw bright light, casted behind a shadowy figure.

"Am I-" She wheezed out softly.

Again she heard the voice, it was beginning to come more clear as her vision came back.

"Am I dreaming?"

Her eyes closed again and stayed that way for a few moments then opened. This time her consciousness snapped back, and she could properly see and hear. Right before her eyes was a teenage boy with long, inky hair, a black and red hoodie, and light-blue eyes screaming in her face.

"Hey! Can you hear me? C'mon snap out of it! Hey! Hey!" The stranger yelled.

"I CAN HEAR YOU, HOLY SHIT STOP SCREAMING!" She yelled, as the boy flinched in surprise.

"What the fuck was that!" He asked and the girl looked at him with a confused, dirt covered face.

Suddenly, she jolted up in realization and slammed her head into his.

"Oww! WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!" He yelled again as they both held their heads in pain.

She quickly grabbed his shoulders and looked him in the eyes.

"Lampent! My Pokemon, wher- Is he alright!?" She scrambled out the words in worry and the boy rubbed his head.

"Yeah, your Pokemon's fine. It's right over there." The boy said as he pointed over to an unconscious Pokemon, lying on the ground with a blueish-purple flame burning inside its clear, spherical head. She let out a sigh of relief and went to quickly stand up.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, easy now. Take it slow." The boy said in a surprisingly calm manner.

The girl nodded and the boy held out his hand for her to grab onto. Suddenly, the girl groaned in pain and grabbed her right arm tightly.

"Wait, lemme' see."

He pulled the girls hand off, exposing a large, red burn in the middle of her arm.

"Oh fuck!" The boy yelled and jumped up.

"Don't move!" He commanded and took off, sprinting into the woods.

As soon as the boy was out of sight, the girl groaned in pain. Holding her arm tight, she slowly tried to stand up. She made it to her feet and limped her way over to her Pokemon. Once there, she dropped back down and laid next to it. Then, she un-buckled her straps and slid her book bag off with a painful look.

"Ahh, shit, that hurts." She said as she unzipped her bag and stuck her hand inside.

Once there, she pulled out a small Pokeball, only this one had a dark green and black design with an orange outline around the center. She pushed the small button to enlarge it.

"I'll heal you up in a bit, okay. Just give me a second." She said and a bright, red light beamed out the ball and sucked Lampent back inside.

After that, she shrank the ball and laid on her back breathing heavily. In front of her she could hear the crackle of a small fire, and looked over to see two trees completely uprooted and tipped over next to a few others that were set ablaze. Suddenly, there was a stomping noise behind her and she looked back to see the boy running with a handful of something. Panting and out of breath, the boy dropped down next to the girl and opened his mouth.

"Let... me see... your arm." He said, gasping, as he dropped the handful of brown nuts on the ground and picked one up.

The girl twitched in pain as she held out her burnt arm. Then the boy pulled out his knife with the green handle and sliced the nut in half. Inside was a slimy, green filling. He grabbed her arm, rubbing the inside of the nut on her burn. Tensing up her face and clenching her fist, she slowly eased up as the boy rubbed it across the entire burn.

"Do you feel anything?" He asked.

"Yes. The pain is going away." She smiled and said, "It feels better."

The boy gave a long exhale and said, "Good, then your fine too."

He sheathed his knife and stood up. The girl looked up at him as he scratched his head and fixed his ponytail.

"So, what was all that about?" She asked and the boy looked down at her.

"I should be the one asking you that. What happened and where the hell did you come from?"

The girl looked down at her legs and reached over, pulling her thigh highs back up.

"Well, we were making our way through the forest when we got a little side tracked and lost our map. Then we wondered around for a while, trying to find our way back when we heard this Pokemon howl." She stopped to clear her throat then continued, "After that, we saw a Wartortle and I decided that it may be a good idea to work on Lampent's water resistance. We attack, and next thing I know, two other Pokemon come rushing in out of nowhere. After that, everything's black, I can't remember."

The boy exhaled and examined the girl. She had a loose tank top and part of her bra was exposed. Her jean shorts were ripped, and a red and black jacket was tied around her waist; most of her body was covered in dirt. The burn on her arm went from a light red to a dark red, with the green, transparent gel still on it. The boy shook his head slowly, and reached out his hand.

"Can you walk?" He asked, and the girl nodded her head, grabbing his hand, in reply.

He pulled her to her feet and she grabbed her bag, sliding it over her shoulder.

"Come with me, I know a place not too far from here, you'll want to bring your Pokemon, but first, I gotta' find my bag."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The boy dipped his finger in the cloudy, yellow liquid contained in a small, wooden bowl. The bowl was old and worn and the liquid had pulp floating inside it. He brought his finger up to his lips and closed them around his finger. The taste was bitter, but the texture was smooth and easy to swallow. After a few seconds, he pulled his finger out and brought the bowl down to an orange snout. Houndoom laid on the grass looking exhausted with its eyes closed.

The boy nudged the Pokemon's head and spoke, "Drink."

Sluggishly, Houndoom lifted its head, opening its small red eyes, and turned its head from the bowl in resistance.

"Nope, you're drinking it." He said as he pulled on its horn, holding the bowl close to its mouth.

Slowly, the Pokemon leaned in and began licking up the lemon-colored liquid out of the bowl. Curious, the dark haired girl sat a few feet away watching the boy handle his Pokemon and rubbed her sleeping Lampent.

They were in a familiar clearing where the boy had previously set up camp. Laid out in the middle of the clearing, next to the boy and Houndoom, was the grey towel, with four small piles of berries and a stained, wooden spoon on top of it. On the edge of the clearing was Riolu, sitting with its back leaned against a tree. Next to it was a gray book bag with one strap and a brown rope sitting on it. On the other side was the girl sitting up with her Lampent sleeping next to her. Her right arm had a white bandage wrapped around where she was burnt.

The sky was a dark blue and the sun's light was not as bright causing the forest to be shadier than before.

"Again, thank you for taking care of Lampent and I. With my last potion gone, I can't imagine what I would've done." The girl said sweetly.

The boy glanced over at her then lifted the near empty bowl from Houndoom, standing up.

"It'll be getting dark soon. I'll go get some wood for a fire." He replied as he placed the bowl on the towel and walked over to his bag.

Flipping the flap open, he pulled out a brown bag and walked back over to the towel. As he did, the girl stood up and walked over to the towel as well. They both knelt down and the boy stared with a slightly confused face.

"You know, you're really know what you're doing when it comes to plants and medicine. You knew exactly where to find these and what to do with them. Mind telling me what they are?" She asked curiously.

The boy stared blankly at the girl, then quickly snapped back, looking down at the berries. He reached down at the pile of tiny white berries all the way to the right and picked one up. About the size of a marble, he held it up in front of the girl.

"This is a Kole berry. They're found growing inside thick bushes so they can be hard to spot. The clear juice it contains is extremely potent and can knock you out in less than a minute. Lots of traveling doctors and herbalists use them for their patients who can't sleep or are taking medicine that requires them to rest." The boys voice was monotone and his words flowed as if he rehearsed them.

The girl nodded her head and the boy grabbed the rest of the small fruits and poured them into the bag. Then he reached down to the next pile.

"These are Oran berries." he said as he pointed at four round, blue fruits, "They are commonly used all around the world to heal weakened Pokemon. I'm sure you've seen them before." He said as he picked them up and placed them in his bag.

"I have." She replied.

Next, he held up two bright yellow, oval shaped berries that were sitting on the towel.

"Min berries, but they're mostly called 'Minutes'. They have similar effects to the Oran berry, except it's bad for you if you or your Pokemon to eat the skin of the fruit and they're more affective if used say, after a battle, because of its ability to relieve one of stress and fatigue." He said and placed them in the bag.

In the last pile was three brown, egg shaped nuts with hard shells. The girl stared at them carefully, tilting her head, then picked one of them up.

"These are the ones you used one my burn right?" She asked as she examined it.

The boy nodded and replied, "Rintia nuts. A very rare and valuable fruit that contains gel that can heal most any kind of burn in less than a day."

"Hhmm." She hummed as she stared, then looked at the boy.

"You know, I noticed that the burn on my arm wasn't that bad and probably would have been fine on its own."

The boy looked into the girl's light purple eyes as they stared at him with intense curiosity.

"Well ain't that something." He said sarcastically.

"But when you first saw it back in the woods, your reaction was far more dramatic than one from somebody who clearly knows a thing or two in the medical field."

"What's your point?" He said sternly as he placed the Rintia nuts in the full paper bag.

"My point is, I'm curious as to why you would give such an intense reaction to such a minor injury." She said as she placed the last nut in the bag.

The boy sat still for a moment, and then he gripped the bag tight and brought it over to his book bag, where he then folded the top and placed it inside.

"Well, you sharp. I'll give you that." He said as he turned around.

"You're right. My reaction wasn't because of the burn. When I saw it, my first thought was that it was Houndoom's fire that burnt you." He said clearly and glanced at his sleeping Pokemon.

The girl did the same, then stood up and faced the boy, "Why would that be such a problem?"

The boy placed his hands in his hoodie pocket and walked over to the girl.

He stopped in front of her and spoke softly, "Because the inside of Houndoom's body contains toxins."

His eyes were sharp and his face was serious as he continued, "When it breathes fire, those toxins travel with the flames and if they burn a person, the burn will heal, but the pain at that moment will last for the rest of their life."

The girl's eyes widened at the boys words.

"Oh, okay."

The boy leaned back and spoke louder, "Strangely enough, they don't have the same effect on Pokemon. Riolu was hurt by his flames several times while training but he was fine in a few days."

He walked passed the girl and stared at her Pokemon.

"Lampent, right?" He asked.

The girl turned around and spoke up, "Yeah that's right."

"Never had much experience with ghost-types."

The girl giggled and walked up next to the boy.

"Well if you ever feel an interest, I'm your girl. I've been in love with ghost-type Pokemon since I was little, along with the professor that lived in my hometown."

"A professor? Which one?"

"Professor Victoria Burmis, but I always knew her as Miss Vic. She was close friends with my parents because my mother and her met when they were Pokemon trainers and became best friends. Like me, she was fascinated by ghost Pokemon and wanted to learn all there was to know and understand how and why they do the things they do. She had a very open mind and never doubted the possibility of spiritual interaction with the physical plane, even before it was backed by science. Of course she also shares the dream to have a complete Pokemon guide with all the information on every Pokemon. So, she set me up with Lampent and gave me a Pokedex. Then I set off to conquer all eight of the region's gyms!"

A moment went by as the girl realized her enthusiasm caused her to look up into the sky and raise a fist in the air. Then she slumped down and looked at her Pokemon.

"That, of course, was two years ago and I still have yet to collect a single badge."

The boy suddenly coughed and held his hand over his mouth trying to contain his laughter. The girl looked over at him with a grin and placed her hand on her hip.

"Oh you think it's funny do you?" She said playfully, "Well laugh it up 'pony boy'. I mean what's even the point of a ponytail if you still have hair in your face?"

The boy's muffled chuckles were stopped short and the boy looked away holding his short ponytail.

"It helps keep it under control when I run..."

The girl chuckled and leaned over trying to meet his eyes.

"Oh yeah? I think you just think it looks cool, so you where it like that." She said with a grin as she slowly reached her hand behind his head.

"No, tha-" He was cut short after he turned to look at the girl.

"Wai-" Before he could get the words out of his mouth, the black band holding his loose ponytail together was stolen and all his long, messy hair dropped down his neck and barely passed his shoulders.

The girl laughed and stepped back holding the band in the air and the boy reached back to feel that it was gone.

"Tsk. Hilarious, can I have it back please?" He asked with a frown as he held out his hand.

"Nope, its mine now." She said holding it behind her back.

"Whatever." He groaned and started walking away from the clearing.

"Wait where are you going?" She asked walking toward him.

"Firewood!" He yelled as he stomped away.

Behind him he could hear the girl catch up and walk close by.

"I nearly forgot. We haven't even told each other our names yet."

The boy bent over grabbing a pair of long, thick sticks and scanned his surrounding for more wood.

"Well go ahead." He said.

"Oh, okay. My name is Rayne."

"Got a last name, Miss Rayne?" He said sarcastically, bending down to grab another piece of wood.

"Cloud."

The boy stopped and looked at the girl.

"Rayne… Cloud... you're serious?"

The girl placed her hand on a tree and leaned down grabbing a decent sized piece of wood.

"Yeah, funny right. It's a blessing, and a curse." She said and walked ahead of him.

"I guess."

The two walked further into the woods, grabbing big logs and small sticks.

"What about you? Do you have a name or should I make one up for you?"

The boy held all of his sticks with one arm and scratched his head with the other.

"Lex Ciphen" He said with a low tone.

"Hhmm, Lex... well, nice to meet you." She said with a smile and held out her hand, holding all of her sticks with one arm.

Lex glanced at the girls face and noticed her hand. It had a tight, black, glove on with rips all around it and the fingers cut off. He extended his hand and shook it while looking away, uninterested. After shaking for a few moments, then releasing, Rayne noticed that Lex was a few inches taller than him, maybe six, making him about six feet tall. Ten minutes of collecting wood and rocks later, the two put together a camp fire in the clearing just as the woods began to darken.

"Houndoom, do you mind?" Lex asked pointing at the ring of grey stones and pile of sticks pointed upward.

Houndoom stood up and walked over to it. Suddenly, he opened his mouth and out came a shot of bright fire, igniting the wood and setting it ablaze. The flame gave an orange glow that was big enough to illuminate most of the clearing, and expose some of the woods.

"It'll be too dark to see anything in the woods in about an hour." Lex said as he walked over to his bag.

"So, you were trying to capture that Wartortle today, weren't you?" Rayne asked as she sat next to the Lampent with its bluish-purple glow.

"What tipped you off?" He asked sarcastically.

"Well you- Wait, that was sarcastic wasn't it?"

"Yep." He said as he grabbed his hoodie at the back and pulled it over his head with a grunt.

"Dick." She said, watching the boy expose his muscle toned back and waist.

Lex pulled on his dark blue tank top, fixing it, then tossed his hoodie next to Riolu. He turned his head, looking at the girl then went and grabbed his bowl.

"This is for you." He said as he patted his towel and dusted off any dirt or leaves that were on it.

She nodded her head and picked up her bag, walking over to the towel and dropping it on the end.

"About nine days." He said out loud as he cleaned his wooden bowl.

Rayne looked over curiously and opened her mouth, "What?"

"I've been hunting that Wartortle, trying to capture it, for nine days." He said.

Lex opened his bag and placed the bowl in it, then pulled out a small, clear bag with something inside. As he did, Rayne dropped down on the towel and laid her head back on the bag, looking up at the darkening sky. Lex then reached inside the plastic bag and pulled out two, long pieces of dehydrated meat, and placed one in his mouth. He put the other in the bag and tossed it at Rayne. It landed on her stomach giving her a jump.

"What's this?" She asked.

"Miltank jerky." The boy replied with the food in his mouth, "and the last of my food."

The girl reached down and grabbed the bag, pulling out the tender strip of meat. She looked at the boy and opened her mouth, biting into the jerky. As she did, Lex noticed something shiny on her tongue.

"Mmmm, this is good." She said while chewing.

"What was that on your tongue?" He asked the girl as she gulped down the jerky.

"What?"

"Your tongue. There was something there."

The girl looked confused, then suddenly realized what he was talking about, "Ooh, my tongue piercing."

She stuck her tongue out, showing a small, silver ball stuck in the middle with another ball below it.

"See. I got it before I left, just like my mom and Miss Vic."

"Hmph. Didn't notice it before." He said with a low tone and took another bite out of his food.

Rayne grinned and did the same, then opened her mouth, "So why have you been trying to catch a Wartortle in the forest for nine days?"

The boy looked over at her with a stern look and said, "Why? So you can steal it from me too?"

The girl snorted and laughed, "No, I'm just curious."

"Yeah, sure. Well if you must know, it's because that Pokemon is resilient, adaptable, and very strong, and I want him on my team." He said smoothly.

The girl nodded her head, "Fair enough. What made you think he was strong though?"

Lex glanced behind her and saw Houndoom fast asleep then he looked to his left to fine Riolu laid out on his hoodie, holding its scarf.

"Because it's the only Pokemon that lives in the lake nearby." He replied.

The girl thought about that for a few seconds, then spoke again, "But what if he's just the only water-type Pokemon living in the lake."

"If that was the case, I would have kept walking, but it just so happens that there are three lakes in this forest and the other two are overflowing with water-type Pokemon. Meaning that he was strong enough to kill or kick out every other wild Pokemon in that lake, and based on our previous battles, I wouldn't deny that possibility for a second."

"Hhmm." She hummed, and her face seemed to look sad, "That seems lonely."

"I guess." He responded softly as he finished off his jerky and laid back on the ground, with his hair covering his bag.

A couple of minutes flowed by as the chirps from Pokemon got louder and more diverse. Slowly, the fire they made became brighter until eventually it was night and all they could see was the orange glow of the clearing. Lex got up and poked at the fire with a stick, tossing a few more logs in. As he did, Rayne sat up and stared into the blank darkness in the forest, then turned her head and looked at Lex.

"So where are you headed after this?" She asked.

"Barren town was my original destination before I got side tracked."

Suddenly, the girls eyes widened and her face perked up with excitement, "Hey! That's where I was headed as well. Maybe we should go there together."

"Why? Because your lost and hopeless and won't be able to find your way out of this forest without my help or a map?" Lex said with a smirk grin and waited for his triumphant response.

"Wow…Yup, that's pretty much the entire reason." Rayne agreed. "Though, even with a map I don't think I could get out."

The boy grinned wider and let out a sigh, "Well, how 'bout a deal?" He said as he stood up.

"Considering that I lost that Wartortle today because of you, you owe me for it."

Rayne looked up at the boy and rolled her eyes.

"And for the food and medicine and the shelter and blah, blah, blah I get it. I'll pay you back for everything." She said with an annoyed voice.

The boy's eyes got sharp and his face looked confused, "No, what are you talking about? You don't owe me for any of that. That was because it was my Pokemon that caused you and your Pokemon harm back there, so don't worry about it."

The girl's face looked curious and intrigued by the boy's response, as if she didn't expect it, "Oh."

"Anyway, that Wartorlte's back in his lake, where he has every advantage and can't be beaten by any of my Pokemon. That's why it has taken this long, we can only fight him on fair ground when he leaves the lake in search of food. But by the looks of things, you have Pokemon that don't require ground to move around, correct?" The boy spoke with a different kind of tone than his normal one, this tone and his body language seemed more like he wanted something very badly and he was actually trying to talk.

"Yeah, that right. I have two other ghost-types with me as well." She said.

"Perfect." Lex said and clapped his hands together, "Then here it is, yo-"

Suddenly, the girl spoke up cutting Lex off, "You help me capture the Wartortle with your Pokemon and I'll show you the way to Barren." She said in a voice mimicking Lex's, while holding her hands up to mimic his stance.

"Is that what you were going to say? If so, you can stop the bargaining act. It doesn't work for you. Plus, I don't like it." She said quickly as Lex stood there dumbfounded.

After a few seconds, Lex snapped back into his regular mood and spoke in his regular, low, uninterested tone, "Fine, then you know what we're doing tomorrow."

"Yep." She said with a grin, "This is exciting."

"Yeah, sure. I'm going to sleep now. If you wake up, make sure to fill the fire up with wood or we'll both wake up in an Ariados' web." He said as he laid down.

The girl's grin disappeared and she looked and spoke very seriously, "Wait... Ariados?"

"Yeah, they always come out at night and hunt other bug Pokemon. Who's to say they can't hunt us too."

Suddenly, as Lex was fixing his bag and getting comfortable, he went to lay back and looked in front of him for a second to find Rayne squatting down next to him with only an inch between their faces.

"WH- TH- OLY- FUCK!" Lex yelled and jumped back, panting, and with a terrified look on his face.

Rayne was grinning and spoke with a chipper tone, "Hey Lex, make sure the fire doesn't go out tonight, okay."

Lex's hands were held up and his voice was shaky, "Yeah, no problem. That was the plan."

"Okay." She said happily and patted him on the shoulder, "See you in the morning, partner."

She stood up and walked over to her towel laying down facing away from Lex.

Lex was laying there still and slowly lowered his hands and closed his eyes with a sigh, "Today was not the day."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The following morning...

"Hellooo. Leeex. Good morning Lex. Heeeey, wake uuup. Wake up now..." Rayne's voice was soft as she shook the sleeping boy.

"Wake the fuck up Lex!" She said less softly.

Suddenly, Lex bolted up and slammed his head into Rayne's.

"Oww, what the hell!" They both shouted in unison as they rubbed their heads.

After they did, both Houndoom and Riolu rose from where they slept with a long yawn. The girl sat back with a pained expression, then looked at Lex, noticing his hand as it let go of his knife's handle. The only thing different about Rayne's appearence was that she didn't have the jacket tied around her waist; it was lying next to her bag on the towel.

"Good morning to you too." She said with a chuckle.

The boy rubbed his eye and looked at her, "We seriously need to stop doing that." His voice was low and drowsy as he yawned through his words.

Lex sat up off the ground and stretched out, looking up at the clear blue sky.

"What time is it?" He asked.

The girl stood up and walked over to her bag, "Let me see."

She unzipped one of her side pockets and pulled out a small red rectangular device. It had a blue light bulb on the top left corner. She used her thumb to flip open the front of the metal device, exposing a number of buttons, a small screen, and several small holes for a speaker. She pressed two of the buttons and the screen came on along with the blue light.

"It is exactly 7:14, Saturday morning. You're looking at clear skies with highs in the low eighties and lows in the upper sixties." She said with a playful tone.

Lex dropped his head back on his bag and groaned, "You woke me up at seven in the morning, really?"

"Well what time do you usually wake up? Trust me, I can tell you're not a morning person, but still, it took me about five minutes to get you to even budge." Rayne said as she closed her device and stuck it back in her bag.

With his eyes closed, he pointed at Rayne and replied, "What was the time and weather thingy? I've seen it before."

"Oh that, it was a Pokedex. It automatically records data on Pokemon I catch or encounter, like a hi-tech Pokemon encyclopedia. You saw somebody with one before?" She asked curiously and turned around, pulling up the strap on her tank top.

"Yeah, it was a long time ago though. I had a battle with him. It was his Pikachu versus Houndoom. He had a couple of other people with him too. I assume all you Pokedex users know each other?"

"No, not even close. Maybe a few trainers sent out by the same professor know each other, but I was the only trainer I know of sent out by Miss Vic." She said in reply.

As the boy ran his hand through his hair and scratched it, he stood up and shook Riolu to get off his hoodie.

"So who won?" Rayne asked as she moved her bag and began rolling the towel up in a cylinder.

"Who won what?" He said sternly and lifted his hoodie, dusting it off.

"Who won the battle, his Pikachu or your Houndoom?"

He looked over at her as he stuck his hands into the hoodie and slipped it over his head, fitting perfectly, "It was inconclusive. The two fought each other for over ten minutes and neither would back down."

He paused for a moment and grinned slightly, "But man did we destroy that place."

After that, he grabbed his rope and walked over to the girl with the wrapped up towel. He picked it up and began wrapping the rope around, tying it into a knot.

"So, why don't you bring out the Pokemon you're going to use. It'll be good to get acquainted." He said as he lifted the towel and brought it over to his bag.

"Ok, no problem."

She grabbed her bag and unzipped the main compartment. Reaching her hand in, she shuffled around some things until finally she found what she was looking for. In her hand as she lifted it out of the bag was three small Pokeballs. Two of them she held in one hand and was the regular red and white color, but in the other hand was a dark green and black Pokeball. She pressed all three of their buttons, enlarging them, and threw them into the air.

"Come on out guys!" She shouted as all three of them opened in unison, each shooting a bright, white light at the ground and materializing into a Pokemon.

Out of the two regular Pokeballs came the pink, jelly-fish like Frillish, hovering in the air, and the pumpkin shaped Gourgeist. Out of the Dusk ball came the well-rested Lampent, looking full of energy as it spun around in the air. She caught all three of the Pokeballs as the fell down and shrank them, placing them back in the bag. Then, she zipped the bag back up and turned around, placing her hands in her jean shorts pockets.

"This is the rest of the family: Gourgeist and Frillish. Say hi you guys, these are some friends of mine we'll be fighting with today." She said with a cheerful tone.

After she did, the Gourgeist lifted one of its large, peach hair appendages and waved it with a smile and the Frillish hummed in a high tone.

The boy nodded his head and pointed at Houndoom, who was lying next to them.

"That's Houndoom" He said and pointed to his other Pokemon who was sitting up next to a tree, holding its green scar, "and that's Riolu."

"They're both pleased to meet you." He said with a low, sarcastic voice.

"Alright, everyone's here. So what's the plan?" Rayne asked as she picked up her jacket and tied it around her waist.

Lex folded his arm and stared at her Pokemon, deep in thought.

"Okay, what type is your Frillish and Gourgeist?"

"Well, both are ghost-types, but Frillish is also water and Gourgeist is also grass." She replied.

"Perfect, here's the plan."

Ten minutes later...

"You ready?" Lex asked as he slipped his book bag strap onto his shoulder and looked over at Rayne.

Rayne was buckling up her straps across her chest as Frillish and Lampent floated past her towards Houndoom, who was rubbing his horns against a tree. Close to them was Gourgeist, who was reaching for Riolu's scarf, but he simply leaned away each time until he finally smacked her hand down, causing it to look down with saddened eyes.

Rayne glanced over the empty clearing, and then turned to Lex.

"Yeah, we're good." She said.

"Alright." He muttered and reached back, pulling his red hood over his head, concealing his face.

"Oh wait!" She said suddenly and reached into her pocket, "Here."

She tossed a black band to the boy and he caught it. He examined it carefully, then looked at the girl.

"For when we have to run." She said with smug grin as the boy pulled back his hood, tying his hair in a short ponytail, leaving several strands running down his neck and in front of his eyes.

"Let's get moving." He said as he began walking into the woods, followed by everyone else.

The morning breeze whistled through the trees with a soft, outdoor scent. Beams of light shot through the canopy as the leaves shook and fell to the ground. The seven slowly traversed the forest, following the same path they did the day before. After many minutes of walking, Lex spotted the clearing up ahead where the lake was at and stopped the group.

"Alright you know what to do. Go over there and draw him out, then wait till he's out of the lake and we'll all attack him together." He whispered to Rayne.

"Got it." She replied as her and her Pokemon broke off to the left, headed straight for the lake.

Rayne and Gourgeist made their way around a heavy thicket between the trees as Lampent and Frillish hovered above. Once they made it to the clearing, they examined the small lake for a few seconds, watching the small waves and falling leaves.

Rayne crouched down in the edge of the forest and looked over at Frillish, "Okay girl, you know what to do. Go get 'em."

After hearing that, Frillish hummed her way over to the edge of the lake and stared down into it. A few seconds later, it slowly inched its way toward the water, sinking below the surface. Once it was completely submerged, Rayne was still as she watched the water with focused eyes. For nearly three minutes, not a sound was made other than the wind blowing through the trees.

Then, a loud splash was made right in the middle of the lake. It was Frillish quickly darting over the water, with something chasing it close behind. It was difficult to see, but it looked like a smooth blue head above the surface, inching its way closer to Frillish.

Suddenly, just as Frillish frantically hovered onto land, the Pokemon chasing it jetted out of the water and went to land on her. Turning its head, just to see the Wartortle flying at her, Frillish's face went from fear to relief when a dark, shadowy, round blob slammed against the Pokemon's side, knocking it out of the way.

Then, out of the forest came Rayne, Lampent and Gourgeist as she pointed at the Wartortle and shouted, "Lampent, Confuse Ray!"

Suddenly, Lampent brought its arms together and launched a sinister, yellow ray at the recuperating Pokemon. Once it hit him, the Wartortle began stumbling around with crossed eyes. It opened its mouth, launching a barrage of a blue bubbles into the forest. It was then slammed in the back by a familiar pair of horns that threw the shelled Pokemon across the ground. It was Houndoom. He stopped himself to let Riolu run up on his back and jump off his head.

"Force Palm, Riolu!" Lex shouted as he ran up behind Houndoom.

As Riolu descended on the Pokemon, he held his arm back, preparing to thrust it forward. Just before it made contact, Riolu slammed its paw down smashing the ground with tremendous force as the Wartortle dodged out of the way. Quickly getting it composure, it's scanned its surroundings. In front of it were Riolu and Houndoom, along with Lex. Too its side, in front of the lake was the pink, floating Frillish and behind it were Rayne, Gourgeist, and Lampent.

Utterly outnumbered, the Wartortle took in a deep breath and stood ready. The first few moments of silence since the battle began went by as Lex and Rayne glanced at each other. Rayne saw Lex hold his hand up by his side with three fingers held up. Slowly, he brought down one finger, then the next. Once the last finer was brought down, he and Rayne shouted commands to their Pokemon.

"Riolu, Quick Attack!"

"Gourgeist, Phantom Force."

After that, Riolu sprinted at the Wartortle at extremely high speed that made it look like it was in three places at once. As he did that, Gourgeist grinned maliciously and vaporized into thin air. Wartortle stood focused on Riolu and tucked its head in leaning back, then went to smash it head on with its shell, but Riolu quickly sidestepped the attack and rammed the Pokemon on its side, pushing it a few feet. Then, the Wartortle spun around, opening its mouth for a water attack, but was stopped short by Gourgeist as it slammed its head into the ground after appearing out of nowhere. Grabbing Gourgeist's arm, the blue Pokemon strained to lift her off the ground, then spun around, throwing her at Riolu. After the two slammed into each other, Wartortle turned its head to Frillish and opened its mouth.

"Hey, watch out!" Lex yelled.

"Frillish!" Rayne shouted a second too late as her Pokemon was met with a large volume of water, pushing her back into the lake.

"Damnit. Houndoom grab him." Lex said as the Pokemon made a run for the lake.

Just as it was about to jump in the water, Wartortle made a loud screeching sound as Houndoom sunk his teeth into its blueish-white tail. Houndoom then took a step and threw the Pokemon back in the direction of the forest. Slamming against a thick tree, Wartortle laid there for a moment, then quickly pushed itself up and stood on all fours. Both stared at each other, growling savagely with their fangs exposed. As Riolu, Gourgeist, and Frillish recovered, they all came back to see Houndoom and Wartortle walking slowly in a circle, ready to strike at any second.

After a few seconds, suddenly Wartortle shot out a large amount of pressurized water at Houndoom.

"Dodge it!" Lex shouted and Houndoom jumped out the way as the water beamed by in the direction of Rayne and Lampent.

"Oh shit!" She yelped as they both dodged the jet of water.

"Flamethrower!" The boy yelled as Houndoom opened its mouth.

Out of its mouth came an intense blast of unstable fire, shooting straight at Wartortle, engulfing it in flames. After a few seconds, the Wartortle jumped out of the flames unshaken.

"Hit him again!" He said and, following his command, Houndoom launched another powerful blast of scorching hot flames at Wartortle.

This time, Wartortle withdrew into its shell, protecting itself from the flames. After they subsided, Wartortle came out of its shell. Red and brown eyes locked on each other, they both took one small step toward one another. Then, Wartorlte's tail began glowing a bright blue.

"Thunder Fang!" Lex yelled as Houndoom barked furiously with yellow sparks of electricity in its mouth.

The two charged each other quickly and Wartortle jumped in the air, swunging its tail around like a mighty wave as water materialized around it. Once the Pokemon's tail collided with Houndoom's jaw, there was a small explosion of power and a cloud of dust covered them both. After it began to clear up, the two stood there next to each other with their gazes still locked. Both were panting heavily and stood with shaky legs. Wartortle then examined its surroundings, first looking at the group of Pokemon behind Houndoom that he would soon have to fight, then at its lake. After a few seconds, it glanced over at Lex with a sharp stare.

"Finally give up?" He whispered to himself and reached behind his belt.

On the right side was three small, red and white Pokeballs. He grabbed the ball farthest to the left. Unclipping it, enlarging it, and throwing it all in one motion, the ball flew through the air and bounced off the Wartortle's head, opening up with a bright red light that shot out and touched it. After it dematerialized and was sucked in, the ball dropped down and shook a bit. With sweat beaming down Lex's neck and wide eyes of nervous anticipation on Rayne, they all watched silently for several seconds as the Pokeball shook until suddenly, it laid there motionless.

Rayne looked over at Lex with a smile as he walked up to the ball fairly quickly, Riolu and Houndoom following behind. He stopped and picked it up. They all stood their silently as Rayne's joyful expression turned into a confused one.

"Le-" Rayne started, but was suddenly cut off by the boy and his Pokemon's shouting.

"FUCK YEAH!" The boy yelled with a wide smile as Riolu jumped backwards in the air and Houndoom began howling. Without a moment's delay, the boy shrank the ball and clipped it to the back of his belt and dropped his bag. The girl watched as Lex made easy work of his hoodie and tank top, throwing them on the ground along with his boots, and diving into the water. With a blank expression of shock and confusion, Rayne stood there, not sure what to say or do as Houndoom followed Lex into the water with a loud splash.

After a few seconds, Lex came up on the water and yelled again, "WE FINALLY FUCKING DID IT!"

Rayne began laughing hysterically as Riolu sat at the edge of the lake, dipping his feet in the water and holding his scarf. Frillish hummed as she hovered above the water with Lampent and Gourgeist did a little dance.

"Wow." She said to herself, still chuckling here and there.

Houndoom doggy pattled across the lake as the topless Lex swam backwards, then stopped and simply started floating. Rayne walked up to the edge of the lake and sat down, watching the Pokemon play and the boy swim.

After a couple of minutes, Lex gave a long exhale and looked over at Houndoom, "Come on Doom."

As he and Houndoom began swimming back to shore, Rayne reached over to Lex's bag and unbuckled the top flap, grabbing the tied up towel, and began untying it. Once they made it, Houndoom crawled up onto the grass and shook its body wildly, sending water flying everywhere. Lex reached up and took his band out his hair, letting it drop down as he walked up to Rayne and shook his head just as wildly as Houndoom.

"Oh- Jeez thanks." She said as she was rained upon by Lex's wet hair, "So how was the water?"

Lex looked down at her and saw she was holding up his grey towel. Unsure of how to respond, he grabbed the towel from her hand and began rubbing it wildly on his head.

"Thanks." He said as he went from his head to his arms, "It was better than I thought it was gonna' be."

He turned around and began rubbing the towel around his waist and back. The girl examined him from his soaking wet, dark black pants up his defined, slim, slightly tanned upper body, to his wet, messy black hair. As she did, she noticed something she had never seen before; she saw a huge scar reaching down the center of his back and almost covering it from end to end. Her face went serious and her eyes softened as she stared at the rough, warped skin. Lex shook his leg and turned back around like he was going to say something, but stopped when he saw the girls face.

"What is it?" He said with his regular tone of voice.

Startled, she collected her words and spoke, "Oh, nothing. You know, you should probably wash your clothes after swimming in that lake."

Lex grinned and tossed the towel on his bag, sitting next to it, "You kidding me? That was the first thing I was gonna' do once I got to town. Now I just don't have to worry about a shower."

Rayne laughed and Lex let one more smile creep out before looking out at the lake and watching the sun rise over the trees. The two sat there for a few minutes just watching the beauty of nature as the trees danced with the wind and the water flowed, reflecting the shine from the sun. After another breeze passed the two, Lex got a sudden shiver and looked over at Rayne.

"Oh." He said as he moved his bag to the side and scooched over to her, "I forgot to take this off."

Rayne looked down at the white bandage, then at Lex. Seeing him up close gave her a more detailed view of him. As expected, his body was in prime condition. Firm, well-toned arms and chest combined with his tall, lean figure gave him an advantage in attractiveness, but to her surprise, the boy had little-to-no body hair in regular places like his chin, chest, and face, except for his bushy eyebrows. His body was damp and cold and his hair was dripping wet and sunk downward with unrestrained freedom as to where it fell. In front of his eyes, down his neck; even if it stood straight up, Lex wouldn't care.

Rayne moved some of her hair from in front her eye and said, "Oh yeah, sure go ahead." as she held up her arm.

Lex unwrapped the bandage several times before revealing her perfectly fine, unburnt skin. His hands were rough and quick, every movement seemed to be the most efficient one to complete the task at hand, like he had practiced it a hundred times. They were also cold, and the fingers themselves were long and boney, every knuckle stood out like a hard stone in his hand. Once he pulled the bandage completely off, the only thing left on her skin was a few marks from where the bandage was originally wrapped.

"There you go." He muttered as he wrapped the bandage up and placed it in his bag.

Rayne stared at her arm, admiring the fact there was nothing there.

"Wow, that's amazing, it's as if it never happened. Thanks." She said, and then looked into Lex's icy eyes.

Lex scratched his wet hair softly and turned his head, "Don't mention it."

The boy stood up and walked away from Rayne, toward his tank top and hoodie and picked them up, knocking the small blades of grass off.

"So you should head back to the clearing, I can lead us down the proper path toward Berran from there." He said openly and turned around, flipping his tank top on.

"Think you can make it without getting lost?" He said sarcastically.

"Yeah, yeah get your jokes in." She said as she stood up from the ground and dusted her bottom off, "It's pretty straightforward from here, I'll be able to make it. What about you?"

Lex slipped his arms through his hoodie and pulled it down on him, tugging on the sleeves to get it right. Then, he reached behind him and unclipped a Pokeball from the back of his belt.

"I've got something I have to take care of first." He said as he casually tossed the small ball in the air a few times.

The girl nodded and reached in her bag, pulling out her three Pokeballs and enlarging them.

"Come on back guys." She said as a red beam of light left each one of them and landed on Frillish, Gourgeist, and Lampent.

Once each one was returned to their balls, Rayne put them back in the bag and picked it up. She pulled her tank top strap up and looked over at Lex.

"See you soon." She said as she flipped the bag's strap over her right shoulder and walked into the forest.

Lex stood there, waiting until he could no longer hear Rayne's footsteps as Houndoom and Riolu both walked up to him. After a few more seconds, Lex looked down at them and tossed the ball in the air one more time. With a deep inhale and exhale, he pressed the button to enlarge the Pokeball and looked at it in his hand.

"Here we go." He said in a low tone.

Then he threw the ball, underhand, into the air and it opened up, shooting a white light down a few yards from him, materializing into Wartortle. Wartortle stood on up on two legs, looking with a blank expression as Lex caught the ball and held it down in his hand.

"Hey." Lex said, and the blue Pokemon's blank expression quickly turned into an aggressive one.

A low growl could be heard coming from the Wartortle as it looked to the side of the boy, seeing Houdnoom sitting up, its dark fur clearly wet, and Riolu, standing with its arms crossed.

"Hey!" Lex said more sternly, "Look."

Lex pointed to his right showing the Wartortle that he was standing right next to his beloved lake. Its angered expression slowly faded away and his brown eyes widened. He instinctively took a step forward, but quickly stopped himself when he heard Lex approaching from his right.

"Wait, just hear me out." He said with a calm tone.

He walked up to the tense Pokemon slowly, with his left hand held up. Wartortle watched his every movement carefully: how fast he blinked, how far each step was, his breathing rate, but especially his hands. He was waiting for Lex to attack or make any sudden movement so he could counter it as fast as possible until suddenly, he did make a move. Lex had dropped down a few feet away from him and sat, placing his hands in his lap.

Unsure how to respond, Wartortle remained cautious and scanned his surroundings for the other Pokemon, but what he saw was that Houndoom and Riolu hadn't moved from where they were; they stayed there watching them.

"You can relax now, you're not in any danger." Lex said calmly, and stared strongly into Wartortle's eyes.

After checking his surroundings one last time, the tenseness in Wartortle loosened up. It stood there watching the boy, glancing at his lake every few seconds.

Lex watched him for a few moments, then loosened up himself, lying back in the grass with his left arm behind his head.

With a deep exhale, the boy spoke, "You know, at first I thought it was your incredible strength that made me want to catch you so bad. I mean, I'll be honest, it was what made me notice you. When I first saw you alone in this lake after having seen the other two, I knew for sure you were different. And after battling with you, I knew for sure I wanted you on my team. But after seeing you here now, and thinking about it, maybe that's not the real reason."

Wartortle listened carefully to the boy's words as he spoke, never looking him in the eye, but instead at his lake.

"Maybe, the real reason was because you were alone. Maybe deep down, I don't want to see others suffer like me. Maybe I have a soft spot for Pokemon who are left alone. I mean, that would explain a lot..."

Lex sat up and looked at Wartortle. The Pokemon was staring strongly at its lake, with several tears rolling down its face, but it never made a sound.

"You're not alone anymore. What happened to you today was not a horrible thing. It's time to let go of that fight, it's over. No more pushing everyone away. Start a new course. One with us, with people you can trust, maybe with some friends?"

A short smile grew on his face as Wartortle finally looked up at him, tears still falling down his cheeks.

Lex held out his hand and spoke, "What do ya' say? You in?"

Wartortle glanced behind Lex and saw Houndoom still sitting as he turned his head and Riolu who smiled at him and gave him a nod. Then, he looked back at Lex and lifted his claw, shaking his hand firmly.

"Well alright then." He said softly and released his hand, clearing his throat.

Wartortle wiped its eyes clean and stood up straight, behind Lex.

"Houndoom, Riolu, this is our new family member, Wartortle." He said pointing at Wartortle, who had a straight, uninterested expression.

"Wartortle. This is the rest of the family." He said pointing at Houndoom and Riolu, who both simply stared at him, then looked away.

"Honestly, I think you're gonna' fit in." He said as he turned around and walked to his bag.

"Alright, let's get out of here. Sooner we get to town, the sooner we can eat." He said as the three Pokemon followed closely behind.


	5. Chapter 5

"Slow?" Rayne asked with a curious tone.

"Yeah. That, and they didn't seem to be fighting at their full potential. Their moves didn't hit hard enough, plus they seemed to be..." Lex's words slowly faded as he stopped on the leaf covered path.

In front of him, down the path, was bright sunshine and a large gap among the trees. It was the edge of the forest. Rayne's boots crunched against the leaves on the ground as she walked up behind Lex and looked where he was looking. A smile grew across her face and she gave a sigh of relief.

"Finally!" She shouted with clear exhaustion in her body language.

Lex continued walking, holding his bag's strap with one hand, and the other in his hoodie pocket.

"Sooo, what do you think the problem was?" Rayne said as she caught up alongside Lex and began untying her plaid jacket from around her waist.

Lex looked at her, then ahead of him. He felt his hair tied in a ponytail as he reached up to scratch the side of his head.

"Well, I can honestly say I don't know much about raising ghost type Pokemon," He began with a stable tone, "but what I do know is a Pokemon's strength is proportional to a trainer's experience. A Pokemon won't fight at full potential under a trainer it doesn't recognize as strong."

Rayne looked ahead of them at the forest's exit and her smile slowly disappeared.

"Oh." She said quietly.

They walked into the beaming sunlight and passed the last couple of trees. Lex held his hand above his eyes and squinted. In front of them were fields and meadows of lush, low cut, green grass as far as the eye could see. Several people were out among the fields with different kinds of Pokemon. Some were training, some were fighting, and some were simply lounging around in the grass. Lex watched as a slim girl in yoga pants and a cut off, tank top ran alongside the path with a large, muscular Machoke following close behind. Following the direction of the path with his eyes, he could see it led to a town far in the distance.

After hearing Rayne unbuckle her book bag, he turned his head to see she stopped and dropped her bag on the ground. Straightening her jacket, she slid her arms through each sleeve and tugged, flipping the collar up. Down the center of the jacket were a line of black buttons on one side and a line of holes on the other.

She grabbed her bag and looked up a Lex, "What?"

"There's another side to my point." He said.

"What's that?"

They both started walking again as Lex spoke, "There's a lot of people in the world who don't see Pokemon as equals. More like tools and slaves."

He paused and looked down at his feet as he walked.

"I mean, who can really blame them," He continued, "it's not entirely inaccurate."

"It is for trainers like us." She interjected, causing Lex to look up at the fields surrounding them.

The wind blew strong, over the fields, pushing the grass down like waves. To his left was a hill that was slightly steep, elevated maybe five yards up. At the top was a boy, squatted down and yelling at a small Pokemon with slender legs and lilac fur.

"We have to nail this before the try-outs. No giving up now! C'mon, one more try!" The boy shouted, with one hand petting the Espeon's head.

Lex looked away as they passed him and spoke up in a serious tone, "The way I see it, Pokemon have their own feelings and their own sense of right and wrong. Most of them never wanted to fight our battles, so when they're told to do something by us, it's usually forced, not willing. If that's the case, then you will never get the full strength of your Pokemon."

Rayne glanced at the back of his head as she listened to his words.

"That's why I make sure that my Pokemon and I understand each other. I have a different relationship with each one of them because they aren't just things I use whenever I need them, they're my family. And being the family we are, there's trust between us. And when they trust you and you trust them, to the point you would do anything for each other, that's when you can call yourself a team."

Lex noticed Rayne stopped, and turned around to look at her.

"I trust my Pokemon to fight with me at their very best, especially when it counts, and they trust me to take care of them and never lead them astray." He said looking into her soft, violet eyes.

"But, I love my Pokemon. They know I'll always do anything to take care of them." Rayne said softly.

Lex eyes looked sharp as he spoke again in a low tone, "You can love somebody and not trust them."

He turned his head to see that they were a bit closer to the town, but he still wasn't able to see it in good detail.

"Anyway, my point is to work on the bond between you and your Pokemon and maybe toughen them up with some more intense training." He said with a more lighthearted voice and softer expression.

He turned his head back and grinned, "That is, if you ever expect to beat all eight of Zenen region's gyms."

Rayne's mouth opened and she shoved his shoulder lightly.

"Shut up... I'll think about it." She said, looking away as she walked ahead of Lex.

Around fifteen minutes passed as the two strolled down the dirt path. Along the way they passed three ongoing Pokemon battles and several other people walking in the opposite direction, as well as a small white house with a red roof. Lex also noticed a group of Ponyta running in the distance, the fire on their backs waved wildly in the wind.

As they got closer, they noticed more and more people gathered around in groups. The path they were walking on transitioned from dark brown dirt to smooth, grey, stone bricks. After making it around one last small hill, the path finally curved. Lex and Rayne stopped and admired the entrance to the town about 100 yards ahead of them. There was a large, metal arch above the path with lights on it and two green brick buildings with brown metal panels on each side. Huge gatherings of people and Pokemon walked in and out the town from there.

The path itself extended deeper into the town which, seemed to be split in two. On the right side, from where they were standing, was a great many houses ranging from one, to two stories; each had similar structure, but different colors. The buildings seemed to be in several clusters forming a grid with a wide, stone street between them. Several had a tree or two separating them, but most just had bushes or a few yards of open grass.

On the left side was a large, curved, two story building that blocked any view behind it. On the side of the building, they could see several glass windows that were low to the ground.

"Welcome to Barren." Lex said as he casually stood next to Rayne who was still admiring the view.

After a few more seconds of looking, a strange voice called out to Lex and Rayne from there right, "Hey! You in the hoodie."

Lex turned his head in response and Rayne moved her whole body around Lex to see who called them. A few feet away from the path was a teenage boy sitting in the grass with a shiny, thick, silver briefcase in his hand. The boy wore a pair of sharp, maroon-colored prescription glasses and a red visor on his head with a black Pokeball symbol on it. His hair was a close call between dirty blonde and dark brown and cut short with a dry and frizzy look, like he just rolled out of bed. His face was bright red from being in the sun and he had two front teeth exposed from his mouth; the rest were small and abnormally jagged.

The boy sat leaning back with one hand behind him in the grass. His body was just as, if not more, skinny than Rayne's. He had on a tight, long sleeve, black undershirt with a bright red vest over it. The vest had several pockets in the front and an open zipper in the middle; the inside of the vest was white. Below that was a tan pair of shorts that extended down below his knees but were pulled back because of the way he was sitting. On his feet was a pair of green, flat-bottom shoes with tightly tied, white laces.

"You two aren't from around here, are you?" The boy asked, his voice was raspy and obnoxiously loud.

Rayne looked up at Lex, who simply shrugged his shoulders and continued walking. Rayne stood and watched as the stranger jumped up and held out his hand.

"Wait!" He shouted, "You guys look like Pokemon trainers. Wanna' battle?"

Lex stopped walking and turned his head back.

"Oh no, no. I can't. My Pokemon already went through a tough battle today and it's been a week since they had a checkup. I'm keeping them from getting in any more fights until I've gotten them to a Pokemon Center." Rayne said casually, holding her hands up in denial.

"Oh." He said with a disgusted expression, then noticed Lex walking back toward him, both hands in his hoodie pockets.

Lex stopped when he was directly in front of the boy and stood looking down at him.

His icy blue eyes were sharp and he spoke in his usual tone, "Twenty-five hundred."

Rayne and the stranger looked at Lex curiously.

"Let's fight for twenty-five hundred. Sound good?"

The boy grinned and pinched the end of his visor.

"Yeah, that sounds perfect." He said, "Follow me."

The boy grabbed his metal suitcase off the ground and began walking into the field, away from the path. Lex followed and Rayne caught up next to him.

"Well this happened quickly." She whispered.

Lex looked at her, then at the boy in front of them, "I just realized I don't have any money." He said with a straight face.

Rayne looked up at Lex with curiosity and shock, "So what are you gonna' pay him if you lose?"

"I won't." He whispered and walked ahead of her.

The wind started picking up, causing everyone's clothes to flap in it. The boy stopped walking and held his hands up as if he was presenting something.

"Is this good?" He asked as Lex walked up next to him and saw the battlefield was to be a level, open space of low grass.

"Fine." He said and started walking away from the boy and Rayne.

Rayne walked up next to him as he dropped down to one knee and laid his briefcase on the grass.

"Three rounds! Best two out of three wins!" He yelled with his obnoxious voice as he watched Lex continue to walk forward without a response.

"Your friends not much of a talker." He said looking down at his suitcase.

"Oh, yeah. I think that's just the way he is. I don't mind it though." She said.

Suddenly, a loud smack sound was made on his briefcase as he unbuckled the locks and opened it up. Inside was a black, foamy material and nine enlarged, red and white Pokeballs sitting soundly in the foam.

"Wow, you have a lot of Pokemon." Rayne exclaimed, admiring the contents of the briefcase.

The boy closed his eyes and grew a smug grin, speaking in a cocky tone, "Well I am a Pokemon breeder after all. I have over thirty Pokemon back home. I just keep my best nine on me for occasions such as this." He paused and lifted his hand in the air to express his own ego, "Not only that but I also happen to be-"

"Oh, wait. That's really interesting, but I forgot to tell Lex something." Rayne said cutting the boy off mid-sentence.

"Good luck!" She bantered, jogging across the field, leaving the boy with a rejected, angered expression.

After a few moments of examining his Pokeballs, the boy looked up, across the field at his opponent and spoke to himself, "Lex, huh."

Around 50 yards away, on the other side of the field, Lex watched as Rayne ran up alongside him.

"Kick his ass." She said and stood behind him as the boy closed his brief case and stood up with a Pokeball in hand.

"You ready?" The boy shouted with a grin.

Lex tilted his head to the left, then right, cracking his neck twice and yelled back, "Yeah!"

"Let's get this over with." He said to himself as he reached behind him and stood ready to throw.

Another brief wind blew across the field, pushing Lex's bangs in his face, as the two stood ready for a few moments. Then, as the wind ceased, they both acted and threw their Pokeballs in the air.

"Go! Luxray!" The boy shouted as the ball flew in the air and opened.

The white light beamed out to the ground, forming a four-legged Pokemon, covered in shaggy, black fur. The fur covered its shoulders and the base of its tail, plus formed a large mane on its head. Its face, hind legs, torso, and back of its front legs were light blue. On the back of each foreleg, the Luxray had three yellow, half rings. Its long, thin tail was tipped with a yellow four-pointed star. With a short, blunt nose, dark, yellow eyes with red sclera, sharp, short, exposed teeth, and rounded ears with yellow insides, the Pokemon stood strong with a bold posture.

Opposite Luxray on the field was Houndoom, who stood with its head low to the ground. Fangs bared and growling, the two stood locked on each other as the boy shouted his first command.

"Alright Luxray, use Spark!"

After the boys loud, raspy command, the black-furred Pokemon charged at Houndoom head on. As it ran, its entire upper body, including head, was covered in bright-yellow electricity. The sparks flew behind him as it began to pick up speed.

"Get moving Houndoom." Lex said casually.

After he did, Houdoom, who had been standing still, jumped into action, running straight for Luxray. As the two came closer and closer to collision, Lex waited until the last possible moment to issue his second command.

"Right!"

As he did, Houndoom darted to the right dodging the massed ball of electricity charging toward him. Startled by the move, Luxray quickly changed its course and began chasing Houndoom. Both running on all fours, Houndoom slowly curved to the right making a U-turn as Luxray followed, slowly inching closer to him, still covered in yellow sparks.

The boy grinned and shouted another command, "Discharge!"

After that, his Pokemon began to glow brighter and a short grin grew on Lex's face as well.

"Jump, then Smog!"

The sprinting Houndoom quickly jumped into the air as Luxray expelled all of its electricity, striking the area around it. The electricity barley passed below Houndoom as he turned his head and opened its mouth. Once he did, a heavy cloud of filthy black gas poured out his mouth, covering Luxray who was only a few feet away.

"Get out of there Luxray!" The boy shouted with a shocked expression.

Houndoom landed on the ground and watched as Luxray launched itself out of the gas and landed a few yards away, stumbling a bit. Standing still and coughing, the Luxray stared down at the grass for a few seconds, then caught its breath.

"Charge up!" The boy shouted and gripped his hand tightly in a fist; you could see the sweat running down his neck as he focused.

Lex on the other hand stood leisurely, placing one hand in his hoody pocket as the other hung low, gripping Houndoom's Pokeball. Rayne stood next to him, observing the battle close with excitement and every so often glancing at Lex's face.

Suddenly, a low growl could be heard in the field as Luxray began glowing bright-yellow again and small particles of electricity accumulated around it. A stressed and painful expression was on its face as the glow grew brighter and brighter over a matter of seconds until finally it broke like a bubble and two bolts of electricity shot out from each side of it. Luxray stood up with a different look this time and turned to Houndoom, staring at him with sharp, unwavering eyes.

"Hhmm." Lex hummed quietly to himself as the boy across the field lifted his hand.

"Thunder!" He shouted.

A snap second after the word left his mouth, Luxray began to glow again. This time, yellow sparks covered its whole body and it opened its mouth, roaring loudly as a wicked thunderbolt shot out at high speeds directly toward Houndoom.

"Dodge it quick!" Lex shouted but Houndoom was already moving before he could finish.

The powerful attack landed behind Houndoom causing a large explosion and leaving behind a round, dirt filled crater. Houndoom, who had ran to its left, made a sharp turn and was running toward Luxray.

"Inferno!"

Houndoom quickly jumped in the air and opened its mouth. Luxray, who was unprepared, began to leap out of the way just as it was engulfed by a huge wave of intense, red flame. The flames swirled around Luxray as it screeched in pain.

Catching an intense wave of heat, the boy quickly shielded his face with his arms. After a few more moments, Lex, Rayne, Houndoom, and the boy all watched as the wild flames slowly subsided until all that was left was a few dim flames on the charred ground and Luxray, who was lying still with several burns on its face and legs.

The boy stood there, petrified by the attack, and called out to his Pokemon, "Luxray?"

Slowly, Luxray stood up with one eye closed and shaky legs. It stood in a ready position, preparing itself to attack again.

"Wanna' call the first match?" Lex shouted to the boy who stared at his Pokemon.

After a few moments, another small wind blew across the field, brushing through Luxrays dark fur as it stared sharply at Houndoom.

"Hell no! Let do this." The boy said then shouted, "Luxray, Charge again!"

After that command, Luxray began glowing again as small particles of electricity gathered around its body once more.

Lex sighed and called out to his Pokemon, "Houndoom, get back."

Quickly, Houndoom began backpedaling, putting some distance between him and Luxray as it charged up its electricity. After it discharged, Luxray stood with a strong posture and prepared itself to attack; Houndoom did the same.

"Ready Luxray?" The boy shouted and Luxray gave a short growl in response.

The boy's red face was now drenched in sweat, along with his hair and clothes as he lifted his hand and opened his mouth, "Alright, Wild Charge!"

Lex responded by shouting a command to Houndoom as well, "Flame Charge!"

Suddenly, Luxray was shrouded by an explosion of electricity, covering its body. Several yards away, Houndoom's body was also covered, only his was by violent red and yellow flames. With flames flickering and spark igniting, both stood with intense concentrated power.

"Go get 'em." Lex said.

"Take him down!" The boy shouted right after.

In unison, both Pokemon charged each other head-strong, as fast as they could. Houndoom lowered his flame cloaked horns preparing to ram and Luxray lowered its head as well, growling loudly over the sound of shocking electricity. Rayne and the boy held their breath as the two came within feet of each other.

Finally, the collision of fire and electricity made a thunderous boom and large yellow bolts darted out of the huge dust cloud that formed. Several short, random spouts of flames also shot into the air, withering away as it traveled. Lex stood with a surprisingly calm expression, watching the dust cloud slowly clear away; the boy on the other hand stood gritting his teeth and nervously clenching his fist as the flames and electricity ceased to shoot out.

Once it was clear enough to see, the boy eyes widened at the sight. Both Houndoom and Luxray stood sternly, watching each other only inches apart. A few seconds passed and everyone was still as a soft breeze blew between them.

"Lu-" The boy started, but stopped after watching his Luxray collapse on the ground, desperately trying to hold himself up with his front right leg.

Lex sighed at the sight and opened his mouth, "Houndoom."

Suddenly, Houndoom grew a vicious look and began growling with its sharp fangs in Luxrays face. After a few moments, Luxray looked up at Houndoom and the strong, bold expression it had quickly changed to that of a terrified one, as Houndoom began barking loudly, threatening to attack again.

Slowly, Luxray's strength failed as it closed its eyes and fell down the rest of the way. Lex grinned and raised his arm with the Pokeball, shooting out the red beam that returned Houndoom to his ball. On the other side of the field, the boy looked down at the ground and stomped his foot angrily.

"Damnit! Damnit!" He yelled as he raised his arm, "Return!"

The knocked out Luxray quickly dematerialized into red light and returned to the Pokeball in the boy's hand. The boy gripped the ball tightly and quickly kneeled down, placing it in his suitcase.

A few feet away from Lex, Rayne stood in awe from the epic battle that just transpired in front of her. She held her bag straps in each hand as her hair and jacket fluttered in the wind.

"Um, excuse me miss?"

Rayne's face peaked up in curiosity after hearing a small child's voice behind her. Turning around, she saw a short kid with evenly cut, light-brown hair with a cowlick in the back, round lapis eyes, and a blue and black stripped, collared shirt with brown, belted-up shorts. The boy stood looking up at Rayne and held his hands at his sides.

Rayne bent down and placed her hands on her knees opening her mouth, "Yes?"

"Um, who is that fighting Damian over their?" The kid asked, pointing at Lex.

Rayne looked over at Lex as he glanced at her, reaching behind him for another Pokeball. Rayne pulled the kid farther away so she wouldn't distract Lex.

"That boy's name is Damian?" Rayne asked curiously.

The boy looked surprised by her question and responded, "You don't know Damian?"

Rayne shook her head and the little kid folded his arms.

"Where are you from?"

Rayne turned her body and pointed in the direction they came from, "We came from Yilkwood Forest, down the path there."

The boy looked and raised his head in understanding, "Oh okay. So you are new here."

The boy paused then looked up at her and smiled, "Well, the guy your friend's fighting is Damian Timber. He's a proud member of Barren Academy's Battle Team. I've been a big fan of his for a long time ever since he won our team a spot at nationals."

"Oh." She said, looking back at the tempered boy.

"Yep. So, how bad's he winning?" The boy asked.

Rayne looked down at him and rubbed the back of her head chuckling, "Actually, he just lost the first round to Lex."

The boy's jaw dropped as he peeked around seeing his idol in stress, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes.

"What?" The kid shouted, "But he always wins the first round, that's usually when he uses Luxray. How'd he beat him?"

Rayne and the kid looked at Lex who was tossing his small Pokeball in the air casually as he waited.

"He used his Houndoom to beat him; did it without taking any damage too."

The kid's eyes widened in awe as he watched Lex stand there.

"Whoooaa. He must be super strong. I've got to get my friend so we can watch this. Be right back!" He shouted as he turned around and began running back to the path.

Rayne smiled and turned back around, walking toward Lex.

She stood next to him and placed her hand on her hip, "Welp, you haven't been here a total of twenty minutes and you already have fans."

Lex looked to his right to see that many of the people crossing the path and standing by the gate had begun migrating over to where their battle was taking place. Most looked to be other Pokemon trainers and several had already started waiting for the next round to start.

Damian, who also noticed the crowd, took in a deep breath and pushed up his glasses. With a calmer look on his face, he grabbed a Pokeball in the center of his suitcase and closed it back up.

Rayne looked at Lex, twirling a bit of her bangs with her finger, "So what's your plan this round?"

"There's not really a need for a plan in this fight. This guy is so easily predictable I almost feel bad." Lex said, clicking the button on the Pokeball, enlarging it.

Damian stood up and glanced at the growing crowd once more before straightening his visor and speaking up.

"Hey, nice job in the first round. I clearly underestimated you." He yelled with a clear, overconfident tone.

"Yeah, don't mention it. You ready?" Lex responded quickly, as if he was being timed.

The boy choked on his words before he could get out his next statement and grunted angrily under his breath.

"Yeah! Let's go Beedrill!" Damian shouted, throwing his Pokeball.

Once in the air, the red and white ball opened up and the white beam began to take form on the ground. The Pokemon was around three feet tall and stood on two long, black, segmented legs, insectoid in shape. The Beedrill's head was round with a slightly pointed mouth, large, red bug-eyes, and two black antennas with a sharp bends in the middle. Its forelegs were tipped with long, white, conical stingers. On its back was a two pairs of round, transparent wings with several veins stretching across them. Almost all of its body was yellow except for two black stripes on its abdomen where a third stinger was planted on the bottom.

"Let's make this quick Riolu." Lex said as he underhand tossed his ball into the air.

Once his Pokeball opened and shot its beam, Riolu materialized on the ground, kneeling in the grass with its eyes closed. Riolu sat there for a minute and gripped its scarf with its paw, while moving its tail slowly to the right. After opening his eyes, Riolu stood up to see his opponent a few yards away.

Suddenly, the Beedrill's wings began moving violently fast, causing a loud buzzing sound and rendering them practically invisible. Once they were in motion, Beedrill was able to hover a few feet off the ground. Riolu stood in a stance that prepared him to fight as Beedrill did the same.

"Watch the stingers." Lex said sternly.

"We can't lose to them here no matter what. This Pokemon doesn't look that strong so take advantage of that." Damian said looking serious as Beedrill focused on Riolu.

A brief moment passed, just long enough for Damian to get one last deep breathe in before Lex started the battle.

"Bulk Up!"

After Lex's words met Riolu's ears, he took a deep breathe in through his nose and closed his eyes. Suddenly, his face began tensing up and he reached in with each paw, grabbing his sides. A low, straining growl slowly grew louder from Riolu, as a bright red aura began to surround his body. It gradually grew brighter, flickering and wavering up his body like transparent fire, and eventually dissipating once it got a certain distance away. As Riolu's growl grew fiercer, his body begin to bulk up and shake slightly with several veins straining out his skinny arms.

Looking surprised by Lex's opening move, Damian responded with his own.

"Beedrill, Agility!"

Just as Riolu did before, Damian's Beedrill inhaled deeply and closed its eyes. As it did, its body began to glow a bright white and its already near invisible wings started buzzing even faster.

Lex squinted his eyes, watching the Beedrill closely until suddenly, it darted to its left and was gone. Surprised, Lex and Rayne quickly scanned the area searching for the yellow Pokemon, but to no avail. Soon after its disappearance, Riolu gave a short, loud growl along with a low boom as the red aura shot away from him and he stood up straight.

Lex gave one more look, scanning around his opponent, the people watching, even behind him, but all he saw was grass.

"Hey, what the hell?" Lex shouted to Damian, who was casually pinching his red visor.

With a cocky smile, Damian chuckled to himself and replied, "Whatever do you mean?"

"Tsk. Find it." Lex said, still searching the area.

Slowly, Riolu closed its eyes and raised each of its ears, shaking them rapidly. Rayne watched Riolu carefully, looking confused.

"What's Riolu doing?" She asked in a quiet voice, almost to a whisper.

"He's using aura to find the Beedrill." Lex responded.

Rayne glanced at Lex, "Oohh, I see," then looked back at the focused Pokemon, "I remember hearing something about Riolus and Lucarios having a 'sixth sense', but I've never actually seen it before."

"Well here's your chance."

Just as Lex finished speaking, Riolu broke its focus and jumped forward looking surprised and fearful. The its began quickly looking to its left and right, paws up and ready to defend itself.

"Where is it?" Lex shouted to the nervous Pokemon.

Across the field, Damian, who was obviously trying to holding in his laughter the whole time, began cackling loudly, gasping for air every couple of seconds.

Lex stared at him with a blank, expressionless face, as the boy held his stomach and wiped his eyes. With one last snort, Damian took in a deep breath and got his composer together.

With most of his teeth exposed from his smile, the red-faced boy spoke up, "Okay, okay. Sorry about that, I just-"

Damian paused to let out a short giggle under his breath, "Alright, I'm good. Beedrill lets stop playing with them."

Suddenly, Beedrill appeared directly in front of Lex's face with only an inch of space between them. Before Lex even got a chance to react, the yellow Pokemon was gone just as fast as it came. Startled, Lex jumped back with widened eyes looking around just like Riolu.

"What's wrong?" Rayne asked curiously, staring at him as if a big yellow bug didn't just flash in front of him.

Lex looked at her, then, as if understanding something, took a step forward and focused on Riolu.

"Fury attack!" Damian shouted at the top of his lungs.

Right after he did, Beedrill appeared behind Riolu, jabbing one of its long stingers into his back. Immediately after, Riolu was jabbed again in its stomach. Suddenly, Beedrill was appearing all around Riolu at the same time, violently ramming him with its stingers. All Riolu could do was stand there and take the punishment, without even a second to breathe.

Looking worried, Rayne turned her head from the one-sided battle infront of her and pulled on Lex's shoulder, "Do something! Riolu's getting destroyed out there."

Without response, Lex stood there patiently, watching the fight with extreme focus. He watched the pained expression Riolu made with each hit, he watched Damian hold his hand over his mouth, trying to contain his laughter, he even glanced into the crowd, spotting people in specific and watching their cheerful movements and expressions. After observing the situation before him, he noticed one thing in particular. Even though Riolu was being pummeled with attacks, his scarf was lucky enough to remain untouched the whole time.

Pinging in sudden realization, Lex opened his mouth, looking at Ryane.

"I got i-"

"LEX WHAT ARE YOU DOING, ARE YOU GOING TO COMMAND YOUR POKEMON OR NOT?" Rayne exclaimed, pointing at the battling Pokemon.

After being cut off so abruptly, Lex stood still for moment, then turned back to his battle, "Right."

Catching a break from Beedrill's relentless attacks, Riolu wobbled backward, holding its left shoulder and breathing fast. He watched as Beedrill quickly darted back and forth around him making a constant, loud buzzing sound from its wings. Lex stood, patiently waiting for something as the spectators on the sides began clapping, while some were cheering Damian's name. In response, Damian smiled, exposing his two, large front teeth, and turned to the crowd, bending over in a bow. Distracted by the people, Damian failed to notice that at that time, Riolu had glanced over at Lex for a brief moment just long enough to see Lex making a hand gesture by pulling on his hoodies collar.

Turning back to face Lex, Damian's Beedrill flew next to him as he began to speak.

"Wanna' call this round?" He shouted in a voice that mocked Lex.

Lex blew air out his nose and closed his eyes, then took in a deep breathe.

"No!" Lex shouted back.

Damian gritted his teeth and whispered quickly to himself, "As you wish."

"Beedrill, let's give these people a very one-sided show." He said lifting his hand and pointing, "Poison Jab!"

As he did, Beedrill's right stinger began glowing a bright purple and it darted toward Riolu. Riolu, who had been kneeling down recovering its energy, sat very still and closed its eyes. Behind Riolu, Lex stood, eyes wide, waiting to shout something with Rayne standing next to him, watching nervously.

Beedrill appeared in several different places at once, flying from side-to-side, trying to confuse its opponent, but Riolu simply sat there, raising its ears. Just a second later, Beedrill jumped into the air and pulled its purple, glowing stinger back, preparing to drive it down.

In a split second reaction, Lex shouted his first command, "Now! Fling your scarf!"

As he did, Riolu's eyes shot open, along with its body. Riolu pulled his scarf off, located Beedrill, and launched himself in the air toward him all in one motion. As he did, he spun around Beedrill's lightning fast stinger, dodging it, and threw his scarf into its eyes. Blind and startled, Beedrill was unable to stop its forward momentum and slammed its stinger into the ground. Before what the move did could even register into Damian or the crowds head, Lex and Riolu were already making their next move.

"Low sweep!" Lex shouted as Riolu sprinted behind Beedrill.

The unaware Beedrill only had enough time to pull the scarf off its face before its legs were swiftly kicked out from under it and it fell on its back, making a short screech.

"What!?" Damian shouted, just realizing what was happening along with the crowd.

"Force Palm!" Lex shouted with the first nervous expression since the battle began.

Rayne smiled as she watched Riolu stand over the disoriented Beedrill and lift his paw into the air. Giving off an intense growl, Riolu slammed its paw down on Beedrill's yellow abdomen with a powerful shock wave of force leaving it immobilized.

Damian stood with his jaw dropped as his cocky, boastful appearance quickly changed to a more outraged and sullen one.

"Beedrill, what are you doing!?" He shouted with a raspier tone than before.

Letting out a sigh, Lex shook his head slowly, looking calmer, and shouted one last command, "Riolu, one more time!"

After he did, Damian saw that Riolu was preparing to finish off Beedrill and quickly began to freak out, "Wait, wait, wai- Beedrill get up! Come on, get up now!"

Griping his light brown hair, Damian watched as Beedrill did nothing to stop Riolu from delivering another powerful blow to its abdomen, rending it unconscious.

Lex, Rayne, Damian, and the crowd watched in silence for a few seconds, confirming that Beedrill had fainted and the battle was over. Once it was confirmed, the crowd, that had eventually grew to be rather large in size, was clapping, cheering, and whistling.

"Wow, Damian lost to some stranger just like that."

"I guess the Academy's Battle Team isn't as strong as I imagined."

"That was awesome, did you see how his jump completely turned that battle around in one move!"

"Who is that guy? Is he another Battle Team member?"

"Never seen him before."

"Wanna' go grab some lunch after this?"

"I think I wanna' catch a Riolu now."

The people in the crowd spoke and whispered as Rayne turned over to Lex.

"Woohoo! You did it Lex!" She shouted, punching him in the shoulder, "Good job."

Lex ran his fingers through his messy, black hair, scratching it, and pulled out Riolu's Pokeball.

"It was nothing."

Rayne laughed loudly causing Lex to sneak in a short-lived smile. Lex waited for Riolu to grab his scarf and wrap it around his neck again before lifting his Pokeball and shouting, "Return."

Once Riolu was sucked back in by the red beam, Lex held the ball close and spoke to it, "Not bad Riolu, but we'll toughen you up so it doesn't get that close again."

Shrinking and placing his Pokeball on his belt, Lex sunk both his hands in his hoodie pockets and glanced over to the crowd of people, noticing that none of them were leaving.

Rayne noticing as well, Lex began walking toward Damian as she walked towards the crowd.

"That's all folks, battle over!" She shouted, getting all the people's attention.

"Aaww, that's it?"

"Oh, well."

"I wanted to see more."

"Alright cool, now where do we go for lunch?"

"Good battle."

"Yeah, it was."

The crowd slowly began dispersing, some to other parts of the field, but most in the direction of the front gate. Just as Rayne was going to turn around, she noticed two little boys walking away with the crowd making hand gestures and laughing happily. One of the kids was the one who spoke to her early and Rayne smiled before turning around and catching up to Lex.

Once she was walking next to him, she spoke with a curious tone, "I gotta' say, you had me going for a second during the fight. Sorry for yelling at you."

Lex looked at Rayne and replied in his usual low tone, "Don't worry about it, I should have reacted sooner."

"Speaking of which, how the hell did you turn that match around in just three moves, I don't think I've ever seen somebody do something like that before."

Lex looked forward, noticing that they were a few feet away from Damian's Beedrill, who was still unconscious on the ground.

"I'll tell you in a second." He said quietly as he walked ahead of Rayne.

"You going to return your Pokemon?" Lex shouted, staring daggers at Damian.

Damian's face was red. Breathing heavily, he knelt down and grabbed his Pokeball.

"Get back here." He said returning his Beedrill to his ball, "Weak."

Lex walked up to Damian as he shoved the ball back in his suitcase and slammed it shut.

"Pay up."

Damian quickly stood up and began shouting, "You did that on purpose, you made me look like a fool!"

Rayne took a step forward and spoke calmly, "Hey i-"

"Shut up!" He shouted cutting her off, "One more round. I'll double the prize money. I'll prove to you I'm not weak!"

The more he shouted, the more his expression looked like he was going to break down and cry any second. His voice was wavering and shaky, and his fist was clenched in a tight ball.

"No, I'm good." Lex said calmly, holding out his hand.

Crushed by Lex's respond, Damian quickly opened a pocket on his vest and pulled out two thin, green, rectangular dollars with large '1,000's printed on them. He then reached in his pocket and pulled out a small, silver coin with a '500' imprinted on one side and a 'P' shaped money sign on the other.

Placing the money in his hand, Damian quickly turned around, not looking into Lex's eyes.

"There. Two thousand, five hundred Pokedollars. Now get away from me." He said in a low, croaky voice.

Lex examined the money briefly and shoved it in his pocket, walking away from the defeated boy. Rayne stood by for a few seconds, the shook her head and walked next to Lex toward the stone path.

"So how did you win that match?" She said cheerfully, holding her hands behind her back and looking at Lex.

Lex looked down at her, surprised, and fumbled his words, "Oh, uh- Right. Remember how you showed me how that Pokedex worked before we got out of the forest?"

"Yeah."

"Well, when you showed me all of Riolu's moves, I noticed that there was a lot of them that I didn't know he had learned yet, and one of them was Bulk Up."

Rayne spoke up with clear understanding, "Oohh, right, right. Bulk Up increases your Pokemon attack damage, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, that's why he used Agility, to keep me from landing any hits on him, but I wasn't prepared for just how fast his Beedrill could move."

"I see." Rayne replied as the two of them walked up to a familiar sight.

They were standing in the grass next to the smooth, grey, stone path. Several yards ahead of them was the lit up, metal arch curving over the main entrance to the town. Multiple groups of people and Pokemon were entering and leaving through the wide gap and some were walking down the path next to them. Lex watched as a girl walked passed them. For no real reason, Lex noticed the features of the girl: brown hair that was evenly cut at her shoulders, a thin, pinkish-red shirt that was slightly tight around her breasts, a long, white, heavy looking skirt that stopped below her knees and had a dotted pattern wrapping around it, a pair of red slip-in shoes, and two small, yellow, very similar Pokemon on each of her shoulders. One was a Plusle, which had red ears and a plus design on its cheeks and tail, whilst the other was a Minun which had blue ears and a minus design on its cheeks and tail.

Once the girl had walked passed them, Lex shot out of his thoughts and looked forward at the entrance, then noticed Rayne still standing next to him. His face looked confused as he stared at her.

"What is it?" She asked, curious herself.

"Um, aren't you going to-"

"Heeeey! You two!"

Suddenly, Lex was cut off by an unfamiliar, child-like voice coming from close behind them. Followed by this, Lex turned his head slightly to see that he was about to be tackled by a person he did not know and quickly side-stepped out the way, dodging the attack. As the person fell between the two of them, Lex quickly grabbed the back of their shirt, catching them before they hit the ground.

"Whoa." Rayne said as Lex pulled the mysterious person back to their feet and stood them up.

Standing before them was a slender, feminine looking young boy - roughly their own age - with fluffy platinum blond hair, lime green eyes, and rather soft features. The stranger was just barely shorter than Rayne, clad in a pair of brown lace-up boots, black-and-white vertically striped stockings, black short-shorts, a white button up shirt with sleeves that seemed to be a bit too long, a black bow at the center of his collar, and suspenders that loosely hung off the sides of his hips.

Rayne snorted and muttered under her breath, "What's with that get up?"

Lex didn't respond.

The stranger stood still with a blank face, then shook his head and laughed, "Sorry about that, I lost my balance and tripped."

The stranger flipped one of his cowlicks to the left, put his left hand on his hip, pointed at Lex, "You were the one who defeated Damian, right?"

Lex nodded.

"My name is Chess Villette! I was watching you battle him from the crowd!" Chess exclaimed.


End file.
